Justice Badoo committee presents findings.

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
THE Justice Baddoo committee tasked to investigate reported cases of extortion of money and other operational irregularities at the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEP) yesterday presented it findings with a call on the government to abolish the central auction team of CEPS.
“The committee found as a fact that auction sales by the auction team were a charade, a pretence, and a huge joke. This practice clearly indicates corruption, as well as abuse of auction process, which ultimately results in huge loses of revenue to the country,” it stated.
The committee has, therefore, recommended the replacement of the auction team with an ad-hoc committee to be set up by the Commissioner of CEPS with a mandate to conduct the auction for specific period as and when goods were gazetted for auction.
A summary of the report of the committee was presented to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, in Accra yesterday, by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Justice Samuel Glenn Baddoo.
The report indicated that a couple of officers had been found culpable and the committee had, therefore, recommended that they face disciplinary action according to the service conditions of CEPS.
The committee went further to recommend that there should be measures to ensure that rules governing auction sale were enforced, especially the penalty imposed on whoever came out as the highest bidder but refused to purchase the goods later on.
In another vein the committee said evidence brought before it suggested that many vehicles imported into the country were registered without the appropriate duty and taxes paid on them, adding that about 13,000 vehicles had been registered with fake documents as at the moment.
The report also stated the committee had, therefore, recommended what was termed a “search unit” at the CEPS head office just as pertained at the Lands Commission Secretariat to enable the general public to make the necessary search to find out if the relevant duty and taxes on imported vehicles had been paid.
That, according to the committee, would enable purchasers of vehicles to ascertain whether they were buying genuine vehicles or not.
It, however, pointed out that the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) had set up a task force to seize all unaccustomed vehicles and in pursuit of that exercise, it had seized 103 vehicles which had been sent to CEPS for the appropriate action to be taken.
It pointed out that the DVLA should be connected to the computer network at the port, (GCNet) in all its branches so that before any imported vehicle was registered its officers could ascertain whether appropriate duty had been paid, adding that the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) should be responsible for the installation of the GCNet at the offices of the DVLA.
It suggested close collaboration of the CEPS and DVLA to effectively track down uncustomed goods.
As a way of recommendation, the committee pointed out that the DVLA team and another task force headed by Mr Kwabena Ahenkorah of the RAGB should be strengthened and motivated to carry out their duties effectively.
The committee touched on thousands of mobiles phones and accessories smuggled into the country especially through the airport; the effrontery with which some CEPS officials openly ask for money from clients; the use of the state warehouse for long periods by importers and thus delaying payment of revenue to the state.
Others are complainants who refused to appear before the committee, and also the abuse of the “Gold Card” where about 144 have been offered the facility which allowed large tax compliant companies to clear their goods expeditiously from the ports without going through all the hassle accompanying normal clearance from the ports.
The committee also expressed displeasure at the negative image of CEPS in the eyes of Ghanaians and recommended that measures should be taken to protect the honest officials who did not indulge in wrongdoing but worked hard in the interest of the country.
Receiving the report, Mr Baah-Wiredu commended the committee members for a good work done and pledged that the government would take the necessary action to get the right things done.
He said after the government had studied the report and come out with a white paper on it, any action that would be proscribed would cover all the revenue collecting agencies, as well as the utility companies, adding that the country needed revenue to develop and should, therefore, not allow anyone to misappropriate state funds.
The Chairman of the RAGB, Nana Kwabena Osei; the Executive Secretary of the RAGB, Mr Harry Owusu; the Commissioner of CEPS, Mr Emmanuel Doku; the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Major Ablor Sowa Quarcoo; and the Commissioner of the Value Added Tax Service (VATS), Mr Anthony Menyilla, took turns to commend the committee and pledged to instil discipline in their various institutions.