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Clearing agent, 44 in court for duping state of GH¢16.4m

A 44-year-old clearing agent, Francis Yaw Terrison is facing trial at an Accra High Court for allegedly duping the state of an amount of GH¢16,369,908.10.

The accused, a Freight Forwarder and the Chief Executive Officer of GATAFX Logistics Limited, a clearing agent company, who operated at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, is said to have forged Customs Excise Duty Documents and GCB receipts between 2014 and 2019 to defraud the state of the amount.

 Mr Terrison is facing three counts of falsification, alteration and forgery of official documents, fraudulently evading customs duties and money laundering.

The facts of the case read in court indicated that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in recent times had not been meeting its revenue targets and thus, the Intelligence Unit of the GRA decided to conduct thorough audit into transactions of some key freight forwards whose tax returns looked suspicious.

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The court heard that the GRA zoomed on the accused person’s company GATFAX Logistics Limited and discovered that, the accused person’s company had from 2014 to 2019 suppressed customs excise duties to the tune of GH¢16, 369,908.10 for products his company cleared for Max International, a pharmaceutical company based in the United States of America.

The prosecution said as part of investigations, the Intelligence Unit of the GRA on January 1, 2020, wrote to Max International Company, the importer and GATFAX Logistics Limited, the clearing agency and obtained the import documents from 2017 to 2019.

The court heard that when the import documents were scrutinised, it was detected that, the accused person’s company between 2014 and 2019 under declared to Customs the required duty amount which was to be paid to the state, and paid a lesser amount.

The prosecution explained that on the contrary, the accused after paying a lesser amount, then scans the paid duty documents that he had generated from Customs and inserted or doctored the right duty figures which were supposed to have been paid to the state to make it reflect as the amount paid and used the forged receipts and documents to bill the importer, Max International and unduly benefitted from the suppressed amount differences.

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The court heard that during interrogation and in his caution statement, the accused admitted the offence and narrated how he manipulated the system.

The prosecution told the court that the accused said he used proceeds realised from the deal to buy six plots of land at different locations at Oyarifa and Ayi-Mensa, both suburbs of Accra.

The court further heard that the accused used some of the monies to put up three separate storey-buildings on three of the plots.

BY TIMES REPORTER

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Small-scale miners schooled on health hazards of mining with mercury

• Mr Lovelace Sarpong (right) addressing the participants

Mr Lovelace Sarpong (right) addressing the participants

Some Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners in the Ashanti and Central regions have been sensitised on the potential health dangers humans are exposed to with the use of mercu­ry in gold processing.

The sensitisation which was or­ganised by PlanetGOLD Ghana proj­ect was to raise awareness about the negative impacts on the use of mercury in mining activities.

According to the PlanetGOLD Ghana Project Coordinator, Mr Lovelace Sar­pong, the use of mercury in artisanal small-scale mining pose health challeng­es that affects the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys; and may be fatal.

Some Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) that benefited from the exercise were Amansie Central, Asante Akim North, Amansie South, Amansie West, Bekwai, and Adansi North in the Ashanti Region, and Upper Denkyira East (Dunkwa-on-Offin) and Upper Denkyira West (Diaso) in the Central Region.

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Additionally, he said inorganic salts of mercury were corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested.

He stated that the PlanetGOLD Project has conducted several ini­tiatives to raise awareness on reducing mercury exposure among artisanal and small-scale gold mining actors in the country.

It was to promote mercury-free mining practices in line with Ghana’s obligations under the Minamata Con­vention on Mercury, support the for­malisation of the ASGM sector while advocating the adoption of the CRAFT Code and responsible supply chains, and raise awareness on the availabili­ty of mercury-free alternatives.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Area Head for Konongo, Mr Dawood Abbas, underscored the importance of government’s environ­mental regulations and EPA’s role in ensuring compliance within the ASGM sector.

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He encouraged miners to prioritise environmental stewardship to gain community trust and secure a Social License to Operate (SLO) and reaf­firmed the Agency’s commitment to enforce its commitments under the Minamata Convention.

 BY Cecilia Lagba Yada

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Stonebwoy releases sixth studio album ‘Up & Running’

Ghanaian multiple award-winning musician, Stonebwoy is out with his sixth studio album dubbed ‘Up & Running.’

As part of the release Stonebwoy performed various songs on the album to patrons at a special listening party last night.

The listening party held at the Alora Beach in Accra brought together Industry players, musicians, actors, corporate Ghana, diplomats and fans of Stonebwoy among others.

The album is made up of songs like, Memories, Pray For Me, Jejereje, Overload remix, Shine, Psalm 23, Betta Tin, Your Body, Geography, Shine, Lovely Weather, Jiggle and White, Ekelebe and Fvck Up Summer.

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 ‘Up & Running’ features the top musicians such as Duncan Mighty, Ir Sais, Spice, Amaria BB, Jahmiel, 10TIK, Larruso, Chi Ching Ching, Kaylan Arnold, and Blvk H3ro, Wyclef Jean and ODUMODUBLVCK.

The album, which includes diverse songs for different target markets, shows Stonebwoy’s calculated effort to reach out to wider and new audiences around the world.

Stonebwoy is expected to hit the road in a global tour with his new album, ‘Up & Running.’

The colourful event was attended by industry personalities like Fred Nuamah, Andy Dosty, Keche, Bullgod, Nadia Buari, Nana McBrown,Kwaw Kese,Robert Klah,D-Black, Larusso and many others.

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By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme

Enjoy the album below

UP & RUNNIN6 – ALBUM OUT NOW! ♨️

stonebwoy.lnk.to/UXR6

#UPXRUNNIN6 #UPXRUNNIN6Album

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