Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem has expressed grave concern about government's lack of commitment in handling the alleged rot in the infamous Subah Info Solutions contract.

The company is said to have benefited from an amount of 144 million cedis from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for jobs it has failed to execute. Subah, a member of the Jospong Group of Companies was hired to monitor and verify calls of telecom companies for tax purposes. 

The Finance Ministry in May this year stopped payments and initiated investigations into the contract after it realized that the company was not meeting the terms of the contract.

In a statement, the GII said the GRA disguised the payment to Subah Info Solutions as VAT refunds in order to not only hide the illegality of the payments but also to enable Subah Info Solutions evade the payment of appropriate taxes. Mr. Azeem says public confidence in the government’s efforts in fighting corruption is low. He tells Joy News many Ghanaians are disappointed at the level of impunity displayed by persons in trusted positions as demonstrated in the Subah case.

"The president just mentioned one thing that the contract will be reviewed but our worry...was the fact that for over two years, this company was being paid for no work done", Mr. Azeem emphasized.

According to him, those who benefited from the deal should be disclosed and made to pay the necessary taxes on them, adding, "we are not happy with the fact that nothing is being said about the recovery of the money".

However, reacting to the statement issued by GII, Deputy Information Minister, Felix Kwakye Fosu, described the action of the anti-corruption agency as being hasty since the timeframe within which the president had directed the Ministry of Finance and the Attorney General to take action had not elapsed.

According to him, setting Dec 31, 2013 as the deadline for actions to be taken on Subah, the president has directed the Attorney General and the Minister of finance to secure refunds of monies wrongfully taken by any individuals or companies and to punish anyone caught for any wrongdoings and legal action also taken against them.

The Deputy Information Minister therefore intimated that to the extent that the deadline set had not elapsed, it was premature for GII to suggest that government is not interested in pursuing the case