Finatrade calls on government to punish rice smugglers

Accra, May 23, GNA - Mr John Awuni, Corporate Affairs Director of the Finatrade Group of Companies, on Monday commended the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for discovering secret rice warehouses and arresting the smugglers. He called on them to mete out stiff punishment to the culprits and step up their investigative network to arrest others who are indulged in the smuggling of rice and beverages.

Mr Awuni, who gave this commendation in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, said smuggling was not only denying government revenue but was also detrimental to genuine business in the country. "We at Finatrade always wonder how these smugglers find their goods into the country before they are arrested and that is why we want to caution the security agencies to tighten surveillance at all the entry points," he said. Mr Awuni appealed to the government to compel the company to pay all the tax they had evaded over the years and prosecute them to serve as a deterrent to other tax evading companies.

"Genuine business in the country is struggling because of smuggling by other competitors and the more you arrest and prosecute them, the more the playing field will be level for all businesses," he said. Mr Awuni appealed to politicians not to meddle in private business activities as that could have negative repercussions on consumers and create profits for cheats in the system. Last week, a joint operation of GRA, police and FDB locked up five secret warehouses belonging to 3 Hills Company off the Spintex road in Accra. Unspecified quantities of unregistered rice and seven varieties of other food items were seen in the warehouses prompting workers of Finatrade.