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Bidders clear goods from ports
with false documents
Accra, Dec. 17, Ghanadot/GNA - The government auction Task
Force overseeing the sale of all overstayed containers at
Tema Port on Monday said it had uncovered deals in which
some professional bidders were using fake bank payment
receipts to clear containers from the port.
Besides, some others were not paying anything at all on
their winning bids and in the process denied government of
needed revenue for development, Mr Harry Owusu, Executive
Secretary of the Revenue Agency Governing Board told
journalists at press briefing on the auction sales.
Mr Owusu said checks at the Ghana Commercial Bank, where
such monies were to be paid, confirmed that the bidders had
actually failed to make the requisite payments even though
the containers had been successfully cleared from the port.
So far five persons, all members of the so-called
Professional Bidders, have been arrested in connection with
the acts.
The suspects are P.C. Mensah, Yaw Marfo, Kofi Owusu, Felix
Boadi and A.A. Kodie.
He said although not yet established, it was strongly
believed that these suspected miscreants might be enjoying
some 'official' collaboration to be able to put their plans
into effect.
"The Task Force is in the process of conducting a
comprehensive investigation to ascertain how far the current
system of clearing goods from the port has been abused," Mr
Owusu said.
He said those developments impacted negatively on
government's revenue mobilization drive and frustrated
attempts by Customs, Excise and Preventive Service
Management to meet its annual target.
The Task Force was set up in September this year to see to
the sale of over-stayed containers at the Port to help
decongest it and unlock government revenue.
GNA
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