 | | | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| | | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| | | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
.... through another Destination Inspection Company
The revelation by the DAILY POST yesterday that Ghana lost ¢22.4 trillion is just a tip of the iceberg of the quantum of revenue lost by the state as a result of the dubious activities of importers and clearing agents at the Tema and Takoradi Habours. The nation is losing far more than that, our intel sources indicate.
As said in yesterday's publication, the loss of ¢22.4 trillion between 2003 and 2009 was recorded by only Gateway Services Limited, one of the four Destination Inspection Companies, DICs, in Ghana whose responsibilities it is to assess imports into the country and value them to enable the importers pay the right duties to the state.
The DAILY POST now has figures of the transactions of a second DIC, Inspections and Control Services, ICS, Limited where trillions of cedis was lost to the state.
Forensic audit conducted by our intel sources into ICL's transactions with importers and clearing agents indicates that between 2003 and 2008, Ghana lost a staggering amount of US$525,195,263.26 or $7.4 trillion in revenue. The break downs are as follows;
8. In 2003, out of a total of 8,270 Final Classification and Valuation Reports (F.C.V.R) issued and assessed to be US$62,696,325.36, an amount of US$23,747,806.82 was collected by the company forming 38% of the assessed value leaving an amount of US$38,949,118.54 forming 62%.
9. In 2004, out of a total of 11,744 Final Classification and Valuation Reports (F.C.V.R) issued and assessed to be US$105,901,348.29, an amount to US$49,837,191.57 was collected by the company forming 47% of the assessed value leaving an amount of US$56,064,156.72 also representing 53%.
10. In 2005, out of the total of 12,518 Final Classification and Valuation Report (F.C.V.R) issued and assessed to be US$137,442,487.50 an amount of US$69,450,802.54 was collected by the company representing 51% of the assessed value leaving an amount of US$67,991,684.56 representing 49%.
11. In 2006, 45% of the assessed value of the FCVRs issued collected leaving 55% of the assessed values of the FCVRs to be collected.
12. In 2007, 41% of the assessed value of the FCVRs issued was collected leaving 59% of the assessed value of the FCVRs to be collected.
13. In 2008, 34% of the assessed value of the FCVRs issued was collected leaving 66% of the assessed values of the FCVRs.
14. The figures for 2009 has not yet been collected. Their figures are provisional and therefore cannot be considered for the exercise.
In concluding, the total FCVRs from 2003 to 2008 was 72,610 which amount to US$900,355,636.53. US$375,160,373.27 was collected representing an average 43% leaving an amount of US$525,195,263.26 representing 57% to be collected.
Stay tuned for more shocking revelations
Alex Segbefia's boy, Carl Wilson, has been busted in the web of car stealing.
The lies he told on Asempa Fm yesterday were exposed when National Security operatives at about 4:00 pm arrested a 4×4 Chrysler Pacifica Wagon he illegally sold to one of his cronies.
The Chrysler with identification number 2A8GF78X37F365174 got missing from the Tema port under very obscure circumstances. It was realized that forged documents were used to clear the car from the port on 14TH August, 2009.
Very verifiable documents also available to the Daily Post indicate that the Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Allocation Committee (CVAC) unilaterally declared four genuine 4×4 cars as stolen and sold them for a pittance.
The vehicles in contention are GMC Yukon, Acura MDX Wagon and two Chryslers.
Though the importers of the said vehicles have provided Certificate of Titles to show that the cars were not stolen, Carl Wilson will not budge as he hurriedly fast-tracked processes to sell those cars under allocation.
On the part of the Acura MDX Wagon, a Certificate of Title numbered X0633223, a copy obtained from the United States Department declares it as a vehicle which has properly passed through the purchase and export processes from the State of Kansas.
It was signed by Joan Wagnon, Secretary of Revenue and Carmen Alldritt, Director of Vehicles.
Under mysterious circumstances, the Acura got missing from the Golden Jubilee Terminal.
Investigations have established that Carl Wilson sold the car to one Kofi Adjei. The car was cleared by shipping agent, Stewise Shipping.
The Chryslers which came from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with vehicle identification number 2A8GM8L77RL28513 were signed by Allen D. Biehler, Secretary of Transportation.
The GMC Yukon with title and identification number 1GKEK63U65J139234 came from the State of New York and its Certificate of Title was authenticated by Moore Gregory, on behalf of the sellers.
Central Intelligence Agency and State Department files corroborated Bill of Laden details, stating they are accurate.
According to the United States security agencies, the cars in contention are not stolen ones.
Interestingly, Carl Wilson did not even await the outcome of investigations by the Ghanaian security agencies to prove that the vehicles were stolen.
He hurriedly allocated them to some of his friends and sold them at very ridiculously low prices.
In our next edition, check out how Carl Wilson forged documents and forced CEPS officers to clear the cars.
Additionally, a top man at the Castle aided in this dubious act.
Stay tuned
Source: Daily Post
| | | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Alex Segbefia THE DEPUTY Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, has mapped out a strong defence for Carl Wilson, stressing that the chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Committee is innocent of all the allegations leveled against him. Putting up a defence for his darling boy in an interview with Oman FM, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwart said Mr. Wilson has not been found guilty of any of the allegations made against him by his opponents. Mr. Segbefia contended that various committees set up by the government to investigate Mr. Wilson over allegations of selling confiscated cars have all cleared him of any wrongdoing. But interestingly the public has not been fed this wholesome information all this while, though the allegations the so-called committees investigated were made in public. Mr. Segbefia noted that because Carl Wilson is doing a marvelous work at the Castle, opponents of the government are bent on pulling him down with unfounded allegations. He indicated that Mr. Wilson would have lost his position by now if he had been found culpable of any of the many allegations leveled against him in recent times. Dismissing rumours that Mr. Wilson was his in-law, the Deputy Chief of Staff pointed out; “The government will not shield Mr. Wilson for any reason or whatsoever”. Mr. Wilson has in recent times made news headlines following his alleged active involvement in the selling of confiscated vehicles at cheaper prices to functionaries of the ruling party and sometimes outright stealing. The chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Committee is in the news again as he has been fingered in a case where stolen goods from the United Kingdom (UK) were allegedly carted away. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, MP for Manhyia has tasked the government to investigate the chairman for allegedly taking away 18 confiscated motorbikes from the Tema Harbour believed to have been stolen from London. According to the Manhyia MP, security detail at the Tema Port impounded the said motorbikes which were shipped into the country sometime in April last year, and that Mr. Wilson recently allegedly disposed of the motorbikes in question. Commenting on the issue, though Mr. Segbefia said he was not privy to the issue, he was quick to conclude that the allegation was one of the many unfounded ones made in the past to tarnish Mr. Wilson’s image. He dared Hon. Opoku Prempeh, affectionately called Napo, to furnish Interpol and other relevant bodies with concrete evidence if indeed his allegation has any basis. Reacting to Mr. Segbefia’s comments, Napo said he has concrete facts to support his allegation but was waiting for the Minister of the Interior to officially respond to the issue in Parliament before taking that step. He noted that he decided to first of all file to ask the Minister that question five weeks ago because he wanted to give the minister an opportunity to tell the nation what he knows about the issue. “I am prepared to come out with full details of the facts of the matter and also proceed to deal with the relevant bodies after the Minister has officially responded to my question”, Napo emphasized. Carl Wilson has been accused severally of allegedly stealing confiscated cars and selling them on the open market with assistance from some deviant garage operators in the nation’s capital. From Daily Guide/Morgan Owusu, Kumasi |
A whopping $2,000,000.00 (Two Million United States Dollars), secured by President John Agyekum Kufuor and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, with a Sovereign Guarantee, to rehabilitate some Ghanaian embassies, appears to have vanished without trace.
The amount was part of a $5Million loan, whose term sheet, states “shall be utilized exclusively for the renovation of selected Ghanaian Chanceries for Ghana’s 50th Independence Anniversary Celebrations.”
A statement of account on the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning (MOFEP) bank Account number 0232002034552 with Stanbic Bank, opened for the transaction did not show a release of the $2,000,000.00 to the Government of Ghana.
The term sheet, dated December 7, 2006 addressed to the Kufuor administration through its Minister of Finance, indicates that ‘US$2,000,000.00 of the loan shall be booked with Standard Finance (Isle of Man) Limited,’ an offshore account.
Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, who was a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, signed as accepting the terms of the $5,000,000.00 loan on behalf of the Government of Ghana.
On December 11, 2006 US$3,000,000.00 (Three Million Dollars) was released to the MOFEP Account at Stanbic Bank. This amount was repaid on April 20, 2007.
On 14th May 2007, the MOFEP account with Stanbic Bank was again debited with US$3,800,000.00, described as Loan Granted to MOFEP.
The release of this $3.8Million after the repayment of the earlier amount of $3.0Million, all within the term period of the loan made the transaction appear like a revolving loan, with a ceiling of $3.8Million.
Subsequent transactions on the statement following the release of the $3.8Million reveal the various interest charges as well as repayments made to Stanbic Bank.
The $2.0Million was never released to the Government of Ghana, and it was not clear into whose account the amount was paid in the offshore bank.
The $5Million was part of a $17Million Commercial Loan Agreement approved by Parliament on 29th November, 2006. The other $12Million of the loan was to be used for UN Peace Keeping Operations.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) subsequently requested for a disbursement of the approved loan and issued a Sovereign Guarantee to secure the entire $17Million facility.
The Sovereign Guarantee, dated 7th December, 2006 to Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited, was signed by Dr. Akoto Osei.
By a term sheet dated December 7, 2006 Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd granted the term loan of US$5,000,000.00 (Five million United States Dollars) to the Government of Ghana.
The $5 Million and interest on it was to be repaid in full within 36 months from the date of drawdown, and had October 26, 2009 as the Final Repayment date.
As of October 31, 2009 days after all outstanding amounts on the loan account should have been cleared, however, an amount of $883,332.00 was still owed to Stanbic Bank.
Mr. Akoto Ampaw, lawyer for the Chief Executive of the Ghana@50 Secretariat, had written to the Commission of Inquiry (Ghana@50) on December 8, 2009 denying his client’s knowledge of any transaction with Stanbic Bank.
In the said letter, which was titled: RE: CONTINUING INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMISSION OUTSIDE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, and published by the New Crusading Guide of December 9, Mr. Ampaw complained that the Commission had written to Dr. Wereko-Brobby, ‘requesting for information in respect of a loan transaction between the Government of Ghana and Stanbic Bank Limited’ and that ‘he knows absolutely nothing about the transaction referred to in your letter.‘
According to Akoto Ampaw, ‘Neither the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat nor the National Planning Commission entered into any loan agreement with Stanbic Bank, either directly or through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.’
| | | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
