Ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas has said secret investigations conducted at the Tema Harbour revealed that various companies owed the nation over $200 million in taxes.
Speaking on Joy FM, the ace investigative journalist said he discovered this when he checked on the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS), an electronic system which is the repository of all transactions engaged in by both genuine and dubious business persons across the length and breadth of the country.
Anas, however, revealed that all was not lost, insisting that the companies which had evaded tax could be tracked since their every single transaction was computed into the (GCMS). “The evidence still exists on the database (GCMS) and whoever allowed them, those companies, to perpetrate that act against the nation, it doesn’t matter. Once the evidence exists, we will have to go for the money,” he said.
Explaining how he found out about the anomaly, he said checks on the GCMS indicated that different rates of taxes were charged on similar products imported, albeit of the same quality and quantity.
Shedding more light on his latest work, Anas said he went undercover for 123 days and during that time, he was able to expose other corrupt practices engaged in not just by Tema Harbour officials, but individuals and companies as well. According to him, there are a lot of astute businessmen in the country who manage to beat harbour procedures to the detriment of the nation.
Citing a personal experience he had, he said he was supposed to pay GH¢15,000 on some goods while he was still undercover and yet, to test the efficiency of their system, he destroyed the original invoice while making a newly devalued one which was readily accepted. “I took the original invoice, destroyed it, created my own invoice that reduced the value and guess what, when I presented it, I paid 30% less of what I’m supposed to pay,” he revealed.
Anas also bemoaned the manner in which a lot of products such as used clothing and sewing machines, which in his estimation, do not deserve tax exemptions, are being granted that status.
He said some businessmen are lining their pockets with monies they should have paid as taxes on imports but escape under the guise of exemptions granted some state institutions such as the Office of the President, the Finance Ministry, Free Zones Board and the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
He said this move is enriching a lot of businessmen to the detriment of the country. “There are some people in this country who don’t actually do anything. They study these systems; in a year he will do only one transaction and he earns some $2 million coolly in his pocket. “So they don’t struggle…they just study the system, know who to see [and] who to call and use any of these organisations and are clearly able to run away with it,” he surmised.
The video footage of the complete investigative work is set to run on Multi TV’s Joy News Channel and Cine Afrik at 2 pm and 7.30 pm respectively.