GRA OPENS A PROBE AFTER A TIKTOK VIDEO SAYS A KOTOKA CUSTOMS OFFICER TOOK GH¢600 AND GAVE NO RECEIPT
Lady Rev. Adwoa Pretty alleged in a social media video that a Customs officer at Kotoka International Airport collected GH¢600 from her without a receipt. The Ghana Revenue Authority said on 5 October that it has noted the video and started an investigation. It promised a public update when the work is done. It did not name the officer or say whether the money was a duty, a fee, or an unauthorized payment.
The Ghana Revenue Authority has opened an investigation into a claim that a Customs officer at Kotoka International Airport took GH¢600 from a traveler and did not give a receipt.
The claim is in a video posted by TikToker Lady Rev. Adwoa Pretty. She says the officer, stationed at the airport, collected the money from her and issued nothing on paper. The GRA said on 5 October that it had taken note of the video and had started work on it. “The GRA wishes to assure the public that the Authority has commenced an investigation into the matter and will update the general public on the findings when completed,” the statement said. It added that the Authority remains committed to integrity, accountability and professionalism.
That is the whole of the official record. The officer is not named. The date of the alleged payment is not in the statement. The GRA has not said whether Pretty was arriving or departing, what goods were in question, or whether any lawful charge of GH¢600 existed for the transaction. A payment without a receipt is the core of her allegation. It is not yet a finding that the money was extorted.
Airport Customs is where a missing receipt matters. Duties, inspection fees and penalties are supposed to move through a recorded channel. A note or a transfer with no ticket number cannot be matched to a bill. It also cannot be refunded if it was not due. Travelers have complained for years about informal demands in the arrival hall. Most of those complaints die without a file. This one has a video, a name on the poster, and a GRA sentence that the video has been seen.
The Authority said the investigation will establish the circumstances of the alleged payment and the conduct of the officer. It did not say whether the officer has been stood down, interviewed, or identified on the duty roster. It did not say whether the video shows a face, a badge, or only a narration. Until that work is finished, the GH¢600 is an allegation by Lady Rev. Adwoa Pretty, denied by nobody in public because nobody has been named to deny it.
The GRA has promised an update when the process is complete. The test of that sentence is a finding that either matches her account to an officer and a missing receipt, or explains the GH¢600 as a lawful charge that was recorded somewhere else. A statement of commitment, on its own, does not close the hall at Kotoka.
