OSP Begins Wider Investigations Into Issuance Of Benchmark Markdown Since 2017

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has began a wider investigation into the issuance of Customs advance rulings and markdowns.

This was announced by the Office in a statement and this comes after the Office found an “unlawful customs advance ruling to Labianca by the Deputy Commissioner for Customs in charge of operations, Mr. Joseph Adu Kyei” and retrieved more than one million cedis in shortfalls from the company.

The current investigations will cover rulings issued between July 2017 and December 2021.

“On August 11, 2022, I directed the Commissioner of customs Divisions to submit to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, on or before 30th September 2022, the particulars of all applications of custom advance rulings, application for markdown of benchmark value, applications for private rulings and class rulings pertaining to the application of custom laws and the decision on each of the applications within the indicated periods.

“On August 11, 2022, I wrote to the office of the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, to submit an Intergrity Plan designed with the aim of preventing the corruption of the execrise of discretion by officials of the Customs Division, especially in respect of rendering rulings, to assure the effective operation of the Customs Act 2015 (ACT 891) and the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (915) on or before December 2021”.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini