The Office of the Special Prosecutor has commenced investigation into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of auction sales of vehicles and other goods by the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority between 1 July 2016 and 15 August 2022.
This comes few days after investigations into the Labianca Group of Companies and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.
On 16 November 2021, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (hereafter, OSP) received a written complaint from one Frank Asare against Labianca Group of Companies and its subsidiaries (hereafter, Labianca) and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (hereafter, Customs Division).
The complainant alleged ongoing corrupt, illegal and questionable dealings between Labianca and the Customs Division resulting in unlawful markdown or reduction of benchmark values of frozen food products imported by Labianca under the guise of customs advance rulings.
According to the complainant, the unlawful markdowns or reductions of benchmark values were procured and being procured chiefly because the beneficial owner and Chief Executive of Labianca, Ms. Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh engages in influence peddling through her positions as a member of the Council of State and a member of the Board of Directors of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
The complainant contended that Labianca has gained undue competitive market advantage in the frozen foods industry by reason of the alleged corrupt and other unlawful dealings. It was also alleged that the same undue competitive market advantage had been secured for supposed subsidiaries of Labianca – Rafano Frozen Foods Company Limited and Yoba Capital Limited.
The Special Prosecutor, upon determining that the complaint was within the mandate of the OSP, authorised the commencement of preliminary investigation into the matter in accordance with regulation 5 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374). The preliminary investigation was conducted with as little intrusion into the privacy of individuals and the business operations of the cited companies as the circumstances permitted.
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Just after the report was released on the above investigations, on 19 August 2022, the Special Prosecutor directed the Commissioner of the Customs Division to produce the following to the Office of the Special Prosecutor on or before 30th September 2022.
These are the particulars and clear description of all auctioned items, the quantity of all auctioned items, and the Prices at which the items were auctioned.
Others are the date of each auction sales, the full names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the successful bidders at all the suction sales.
In a statement, the Special Prosecutor further directed the Commissioner of the Customs Division to immediately halt and discontinue all auction sales till the investigation is concluded.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori