"2 shipping lines under investigation by Customs Division over forged trade documents"

" 2 shipping lines under investigation by Customs Division over forged trade documents \r\nThe Customs Division of the\u00a0Ghana Revenue Authority is currently investigating two shipping companies and their agents for collaborating in the falsification of trade documents in an attempt to reduce their duty and tax obligations to the government.\r\n\r\nThis fraudulent process involves misrepresenting the goods in question to expedite clearance and evade the full tax responsibilities.\r\n\r\nAlhaji Seidu Iddrisu Iddisah, the Commissioner of the Customs Division, revealed in an interview that the division had received intelligence regarding the actions of these two companies and importers.\r\n \r\n\r\nUpon investigation, it was discovered that they had altered the details on their bills of lading when clearing goods at the Tema Port.\r\n\r\nConsequently, the authorities targeted and intercepted these shipments for a physical examination, which confirmed significant discrepancies between the descriptions on the Bill of Entry (BOE) and the actual contents of the containers.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe actual description of the consignments were footwear, bags, belts, underwear, galvanized pipes, etc. as against the entered description of Knapsack Sprayer,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nFollowing the revelation, Alhaji Iddisah reported that the management took action by instructing both the Internal Audit and Post Clearance Audit (PCA) Department to perform an audit on the identified agents and importers. This audit was conducted in accordance with sections 7 and 9 of the Customs Act 2015 (Act 891) and aligned with the guidelines of the World Customs Organization Revised Kyoto Convention.\r\n\r\nThe audit\u2019s findings revealed that 23 Bills of Entry (BOEs), with 22 of them associated with a single shipping line, had entries that were manipulated. The identified companies were found to have misrepresented, misclassified, and undervalued some of their imports with the intention of reducing their Customs duties and tax obligations.\r\n\r\nAlhaji Iddisah noted that a single Bill of Entry audit exposed a tax evasion amounting to 10.15 million cedis. Additionally, the audit exposed that some agents processed customs declarations with inaccurate details, aiming to minimize their Customs duties and taxes. They also provided cloned Customs declarations containing accurate descriptions of the goods, the actual Customs value, and duty rates while collecting the reduced amount payable from the importer.\r\n\r\n\u201cSo, it means they\u2019re cheating both the importers and the government. So, we went to the importers he will show you a customs declaration that they gave to him but that was not what he submitted to us,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nAlhaji Iddisah stated that, in the course of the investigation, the two companies confessed that their personnel had indeed altered the accurate descriptions of the goods provided to them from the ship. He also mentioned that the investigations were ongoing to determine the extent of cooperation between the shipping companies and the importers.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe want all those involved and we want to give a warning to everybody that you cannot hide whatever happens it will come up and those who are into that practice can own up,\u201d he added.\r\n\r\nIt was further uncovered that the local shipping line had tampered with the Bills of Lading from the shipping lines and falsified the invoices submitted to Customs.\r\n\r\nAlhaji Iddisah mentioned that, in light of these discrepancies, the management had made the decision to expand the scope of the investigation to cover the past six years in order to identify any other companies involved in such fraudulent practices.\r\n\r\nHe noted that while the involvement of customs officers couldn\u2019t be ruled out, there was no concrete evidence establishing their complicity, and it was worth mentioning that the initial tip-off had come from customs officers themselves.\r\n\r\nAlhaji Iddisah added that demand notices had been issued to recover the lost taxes and penalties owed to the state, and the investigations were ongoing, potentially leading to legal action.\r\n\r\nTo enhance monitoring procedures, Alhaji Iddisah explained that the Customs Division was shifting its monitoring activities from the ports to the headquarters for more effective supervision. Additionally, while expediting clearance through the green channel, Customs had now introduced a holding area to allow officers to conduct thorough screenings and call for re-examination when necessary.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn fact, since we reintroduce it a lot of containers which are passed through the green channel have been reexamined at the port and the differences have been critical and we\u2019ve given them penalties,\u201d he added.\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n "

"2 shipping lines under investigation by Customs Division over forged trade documents"

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