Emmanuel Kofi Nti, Commissioner-General
Two persons have been arrested for allegedly evading customs duty worth GH¢288,000 at the Aflao Border in the Volta Region.
The two- Alhaji Amadu Tijany and Eric Edoh Kouami Chaold- were arrested on 2ndand 3rd February, 2019 respectively following investigations by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at Aflao.
The two, who were subsequently arraigned on February 5 at the Aflao Circuit Court for diversion of bonded goods and evasion of customs duties, have been remanded to reappear on February 21, 2019.
Confirming the incident to DAILY GUIDE, the Aflao Sector Commander of Customs, Chief Revenue Officer, Sheila Vigbedor, alleged that the two diverted huge quantities of bulk light crude oil destined for Mali to evade duties.
She narrated that on December 24, 2018, a freight forwarding agent at Aflao, put in a request to clear bulk light crude oil loaded onto four tankers.
The trucks, with registration number AR-6366-MD, RO-837-MD, AR-6364-MD and Q-8768-MD respectively, were inspected, sealed and bonded as required when goods are in transit through Ghana to any of her neighbors, particularly the landlocked ones.
As expected, the officers at Aflao sent a wireless message to Paga in the Upper East Region, the designated exit point of the consignment from Ghana through Burkina Faso to Mali.
The consignment was expected to exit Ghana through Paga within a stipulated period of seven days.
However, after waiting for 22 days, the Paga Customs office sent another wireless message on January 16, 2019 to Aflao reporting that the light crude oil consignment has not arrived.
Quickly, the Aflao Team reached out to the Customs House Clearing Agent that facilitated the clearing of the consignment, Milky Company Limited to enquire about their client’s whereabouts.
With the assistance of the company, Edoh Kouami Chaold, a driver of the consignment, was arrested in Aflao on February 1, 2019.
When interrogated, he explained that he handed over the consignment and its accompanying documents to Alhaji Amadu Tijany, who was expected to deliver the consignment to its owners.
Tijany, who is believed to be a Malian, was arrested the next day, February 2, 2019.
The two have since been arraigned and remanded accordingly to reappear on February 21, 2019.
Ms Sheila Vigbedor warned perpetrators of such crimes to desist from the act because they would be seriously dealt with when caught.
She explained that duty is not charged on goods that are in transit due to an international convention to help facilitate trade and make landlocked countries benefit from countries with sea ports.
“This should not be an incentive for people to evade tax because customs and its partner agencies have the logistics and systems, including a tracking system to nail such unscrupulous persons,” she added.
From Fred Duodu, Aflao (k.duodu@yahoo.com)