Presidential Taskforce In A Mess

Government is likely to run into difficulties with revenue from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), as custom officers are unhappy with the manner the Presidential task-force on revenue collection has cast a slur on the integrity of the division. The customs officers� anger stems from the fact the task-force is making them look bad among the business community, and thus making difficult for businesses to deal with them. Apart from the anger of the Customs Division, government is also likely to run into legal trouble with some of the companies the task-force alleges have defrauded the state through their activities with bonded warehouses. Questionable figures put out by the task-force and the haphazard manner the companies were identified would soon make the government run into serious trouble if things are not done well. Some officials of the Customs Divisions of the GRA are peeved over the way the task-force members harassed them during the operations to identify the companies. Documents available to the Enquirer newspaper indicate that the task-force was careless in duplicating figures, mixing figures and attributing wrong figures to the companies. Already, several of the companies mentioned as having allegedly defrauded has come out to deny any wrongdoing. Documents gleaned from the vault of the task-force revealed that there was a mix-up between United Steel Company Limited and another company called Steel Company Ghana Limited. Three declarations that appeared on the summary sheet of United Steel Company Limited were indeed those of Steel Company Ghana Limited. As a mater of fact, the task-force repeated the references in its summary of what United Steel Company Limited was alleged to have done. A closer look on the summary sheet of United Steel Company Limited clearly points on the fact that the taskforce was absolutely wrong in claiming that the company had defrauded the state to the tune of $86,059,463, taking into account the repetition and wrongful attributions of acts committed by another company. A memo in the possessions of The Enquirer that was fired by the customs officer in charge of the boded warehouses, Mr. Charles Sabblah, to the Commissioner of the customs Division of the GRA, points to how anger is deep-seated because of how the members of the task-force carried themselves during the operation. The memo, dated October 9, 2013, told of how the task-force molested the custom officer on the duty at United Steel Company Limited when they stormed there on October 8, this year. According to the memo, the task-force molested the custom officer at the CCTC bonded warehouse at Tema when its members went there for a similar operation on October 7, this year. Mr. Sabblah said in that memo that the alleged attitude of the task-force brings the reputation of the Office of the President into serious disrepute and also casts a slur on the integrity of the Customs. He also expressed misgivings about the wanton display of indiscipline, saying they have resorted to publishing confidential information about revenue partners. Mr. Sabblah said in the memo that the task-force should be brought to order, to ensure that it works within the Customs Laws and Regulations they seek to enforce, adding their conduct may have to be reported to the appropriate authorities for the necessary disciplinary sanctions. In a situation report that was activated by the Customs official at United Steel Company Limited, it was alleged that the task-force used strong language against the official. A Presidential task-force embarked on operation to retrieved monies from certain companies it alleged had defrauded the state through bonded warehouses between 2005 and 2012. Unfortunately, for the first time in the history of Ghana, Customs, which is a subverted organizations, rebutted the claims of government. Majority of companies mentioned by the task force have discounted the claim by the task-force, with the Customs Division saying that there were some investigations in 2010 in which greater portion of monies were retrieved.