Tax evaders, defaulters to be prosecuted - Ken Ofori-Atta

Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta has stated that he expects more prosecutions to occur in the country as government gets aggressive in the mobilization of funds from taxpayers, ABC News Ghana can report.

Speaking at a forum organised by the Danquah Institute in collaboration with Citi FM/Citi TV on the state of the country’s formal and informal economy, the minister noted that the non- compliance of the country’s laws had become a huge challenge in nation building thus, forcing government to resort to prosecutions in order to ensure law and order.

“I think we should be more aggressive about prosecution. There is no question about that. The Government as you know gave the Special Prosecutor all the resources and I suspect that when Mr Amidu gets on the road, we will all shivering on that. There could be prosecution, there could be education, there could be delivery of service so to look at one aspect and say well I’m not going to comply, it’s also a challenge for nation building. Prosecution is going to be an important facet of this nation because I have to protect the public purse from where I sit and therefore I expect prosecutions to happen,” he noted in a presentation.

Ken Ofori-Atta also hinted of moves by his ministry and the Ghana Revenue Authority to embark on prosecutorial duties on their own, saying, “we are going to have the possibility of our own line of execution of tax related issues.”