The Ghana Revenue Authority has served notice that it is prosecuting over 500 landlords for defaulting in paying rent taxes.

The move is the first in the history of the Authority and it followed the disclosure by the Auditor General’s 2015 report that 547 landlords owed an amount of GHc2, 475,560 between 2013 and 2015.

Speaking on Thursday during his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) the Commissioner General for the Authority Kofi Nti argued that the move was to ensure tax compliance.

“There has never been a situation in the country where anyone has gone into prison because of tax default. But…from this year, there may be,” he told the Committee.

Shedding more light on his statement before the Committee after the proceedings in an exclusive interview with Starr News’ Parliamentary Correspondent Ibrahim Alhassan, Mr. Nti added “if the infringement is such that legally or constitutionally the person has to spend some time in jail we may not object to those options…in order to sanitize the system.”

The Authority earlier this year stormed the offices of four companies in an effort to compel them to settle their tax indebtedness to the state.

The companies were Vodafone Ghana Limited, ACI Construction, a subsidiary of the Agams Group of Companies, which is indebted to the state in the sum of GH¢14,312,974; Eagle Star Enterprise Limited, an engineering and construction firm that owes GH¢604,175, and Logistics Supplies Services Limited, which owes GH¢460,779.