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After the Auditor General accused the Ghana Free Zone Authority management of failing to recover $ 150,000 from 13 companies, the Board explained that the companies in question were not properly categorized as inactive.
The administration did not recover the amount that covered the rent, the land premium and the license fees.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about the Auditor General’s 2017 report on public boards, the executive director of the Ghana Free Zones Authority, Michael Okyere Baafi, and the board’s chief financial officer, Stephen Frimpong They assured the committee that measures have been instituted to address violations in the report, including the exclusion of companies in an irregular situation.
He noted that some companies are failing because they are now removed from the list “and no longer work.”
“At the last board meeting, the board gave us authorization to delist companies that are inactive because those inactive companies still have their outstanding balances on our books, which is not too good for us,” Baafi explained. to the committee.
“As I speak to you now, the letters are ready. For next week, we will notify them, “he added.
A committee member and Ningo Prampram MP, Sam George, urged the committee to make sure there is clarity on the status of companies in their accounts.
“It will be important that you keep your books active. Have a list of the only active companies so that when the auditors arrive, this will be separated and not put as debt on your books, ”advised Mr. George.
The Ghana Free Zones Authority facilitates the establishment of free zones in Ghana to promote economic development and regulate its related activities.
It was promulgated by an act of Parliament, the Free Zone Law of 1995 (Law 504).
One of its main objectives is to attract foreign direct investment.
Companies operating under the program are granted a 100 percent exemption from the payment of direct and indirect duties and levies on all imports for the production and export of free zones, a 100 percent exemption from payment of the tax on the income from profits for 10 years that will not exceed eight percent thereafter, and a total exemption from the payment of withholdings at source of dividends arising from investment in the free zone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/RnVu0yfgcAo
– citinewsroom
