8-member committee to investigate Manganese Company ‘tax evasion’

An 8-Member Committee has been set up to investigate recent developments at the Ghana Manganese Company Limited, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Kwaku Asomah Cheremeh has announced.

The company has been in the news after the minister ordered its shutdown over some loss of $300m revenue and other matters.

Days after the shutdown, the minister reversed the decision and asked that the company resume work following a meeting with its management and other stakeholders.

Speaking in an interview on The Key Points on Saturday hosted by Abena Tabi on TV3, the minister said there are efforts towards resolving issues at the company.

Mr. Asomah Cheremeh noted a committee has been set up and given a 10-day ultimatum to come up with its findings to get the company back on track.

“We are looking at it from the infractions that we allege that they have committed against the people of Ghana, against the state. That is why all this auditing was done and we have come up with these figures against them.

“So when we met yesterday, we agreed on an 8-member committee which has been set up to review both the press conferences made by us and then their terms of reference will include those press conferences and then the findings as raised in the auditing. So this committee is going to sit down within 10 days and they will report to us from there, we take a decision,” the minster explained.

He denied claims that government is trying to sabotage leadership of the company in order to have some persons take over management of the company.

“We met yesterday, and our intention is not to collapse the business. Our intention is not to take the business from them where people are thinking some senior members in our government, in our party are interested in the business and they want to take it, far from that.”

According to the minister, although government has taken over the weigh bridge at the mine, it would be manned by both officers from the company and government agencies.

“Government has taken over, but they will be part of it. And we are bringing the National Security; we are bringing the Minerals Commission and all that. The weigh bridge is for them, we suggested to them, and we have taken over… so that accuracy of the figures as always presented will be obtained.

“At the port our people will be there, they will also be there so that we get the correct figures.”

The minister assured jobs will not be lost at the Ghana Manganese Company.

“There is not going to be labour agitations. As I said earlier, we have given it a human face we have considered the number of employees in that particular set up and for that matter we cannot sit for them to go hungry.

“This government is the government that is humane, a government that believes in rule of law and for that matter, we will not go on this tangent that will cause labour agitations to happen,” he noted.