Task force recoups GH¢764.5 million

Kwame Asare Boadu Jul - 23 - 2014 , 07:26

A special task force established by the government to plug revenue leakages has retrieved about GH¢764.5 million from bonded warehouses in less than two years of its operation.

Some of the companies, entities and individuals involved had not paid duties on their operations to the state from as far back as 2005.

President’s initiative

The Special Operations Unit (SOU), an initiative of President John Dramani Mahama, was set up on November 1, 2012, with the Chief of Staff, Mr Prosper Douglas Bani, as the head.

As a presidential task force, it was tasked to identify leakages and loopholes that deny the nation expected revenues and also adopt strategies to seal the leakages.

The establishment of the unit was as a result of general concerns over inefficiency at Ghana's ports, as well as theft, insecurity and general corruption.

In an interview at the Flagstaff House yesterday, Dr Clement Apaak, the Spokesperson of the SOU, said the amount was detected over a period up to the end of the second phase of work on June 3, 2014.

He said in all, the SOU identified about 290 companies, entities and individuals who, through various fraudulent means, evaded the payment of duties.

"Some of them are in the process of paying, while the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has invited the recalcitrant ones for the necessary action," he added.

The illegalities established included some importers compromising customs officials to clear goods from bonded warehouses without paying any duties to the state.

Before President Mahama instituted the SOU, an independent international research institution, Global Financial Integrity, in its report of 2011, had stated that an estimated $7.32 billion in capital was illegally drained out of Ghana through trade misinvoicing from 2002-2011.

The money, the report said, represented a significant loss of domestic investment opportunities.

Current SOU Report

A summary of the official report of the SOU made available to the Daily Graphic during the interview said through its work, the unit identified the bonded warehouse "as a conduit via which massive fraud was being perpetrated against the state".

"Initial investigations largely based on data from the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet), revealed that between 2005 and 2012 import duties owed the state were in excess of $367 million or GH¢700 million," it added.

The GCNET operates an electronic system for processing trade and customs documents in Ghana.

First report

In its first report in December 2013, the SOU indicated that GH¢ 320 million out of the GH¢700 million owed the state had been paid.

The SOU, according to its latest summary report, attributed the success achieved to operational discipline and strict confidentiality.

It also mentioned the active involvement of the Police CID, which identified, investigated and prosecuted defaulters.

Disturbing revelations

The report mentioned one of the disturbing revelations as the payment of duties to the government outside the allowed period, some as long as eight years.

Dr Apaak said the practice meant the defaulters were able to use the money due the state to do other businesses, without paying interest to the state.

Some customs officials also refused to use the established system for revenue collection.

A typical case of the disturbing trend happened in Kumasi where, until March 2014, custom officers and bonded warehouses decided to not operate with the electronic system put in place for payments.

The report stated that some custom officials were seriously misusing the GCNet/ Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS). They did so by setting up a manual ledger payment system, which is not captured by the GCMS.

The GCMS provides the Ghana customs with a fully integrated computer system for the processing and management of customs declaration and related activities.

Collaboration with police

Dr Apaak said the collaboration with the police had yielded positive results and gave an assurance that nothing would be left to chance to retrieve the last pesewa owed the state.

The SOU report said of the police: "On October 16, 2013, the Commissioner of CID caused to be distributed to all importers under investigation letters inviting them to assist the investigations. Several company officials are on police enquiry bail and are assisting the CID in investigations."

It also mentioned that three custom officials had been questioned by the police, with one of them already interdicted by his employers.

Many more were also expected to be invited by the police for questioning based on information provided by defaulting companies.