“As we speak, the boss has ordered for 1,800 vehicles. It is being procured from a company called Dextro Impex. If you have vehicles sitting there and you are saying that they are expensive and you cannot give it out to members, how come you are finding money to go and buy 1,800 vehicles of 2011 model to give it out to people,” he insisted on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”XJOBnduZ5zhpKcLlVuXpjbNpB8QHCqKw”]But the current deputy CEO for MASLOC, who was also speaking on The Big Issue rejected the claim saying “it is not true.”

“There is so much debt to be cleared and that is our focus. We have no money and we don’t even have any agreement,” she added.

350 abandoned vehicles

MASLOC is currently in the news for procuring some 350 vehicles meant for drivers belonging to the GPRTU, but were rejected by the union because it was said to be “too expensive.”

MASLOC was established primarily to provide micro and small loans for start-ups and small businesses to enable them to grow and expand.

In the past few years, it has been involved in the sale of cars on credit to individuals and groups including Members of Parliament, musicians and celebrities; however, it is challenged with retrieving the monies owed it.

Some have viewed it as a business that ends up rewarding political party members.

The management of MASLOC has so far confiscated 350 of such vehicles, and is currently in the process of retrieving the monies believed to be over GHc100 million.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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The GRA in a letter to Bankers and Banks said the 32 fee-based services would attract the tax from July 1, 2014.

The amendment of the VAT law last November expanded the scope of the tax and raised the rate from 15 percent (including the National Health Insurance Levy) to 17.5 percent.

Financial services, which hitherto had been exempted from VAT, have now been brought under the tax — placing Ghana among a very short list of countries in the world that charge VAT on financial services.

According to the amended law, “financial services” means provision of insurance; issue, transfer, receipt of, or dealing with money — whether in domestic or foreign currency –or any note or order of payment of money; provision of credit; or operation of a bank account or an account of a similar institution.

The list of fees, commissions and similar charges for financial services that are subject to the tax was developed by the Technical Committee for the Implementation of VAT Act 2013 (Act 870) which was made up of representatives of the Ghana Bankers Association of Bankers, the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority and approved by the Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper.

Find below the full list of financial services that would attract the 17.5% tax:

1.     CURRENT ACCOUNTS (Foreign/Local) – CORPORATE BODIES ONLY

2.     BANK DRAFT (PAYMENT ORDER)

3.     STOPPED CHEQUES

4.     RETURNED CHEQUES

5.    COMMISSION ON TURNOVER (CORPORATE BODIES ONLY)

6.     OVERDRAFT PROCESSING OR RENEWAL FEE

7.     REVOLVING ACCEPTANCE CREDIT

8.    ARRANGEMENT FEE FOR FACILITIES

9.    STATEMENTS AND CERTIFICATES OF BALANCE

10.  CLEARING CHARGES

11.  CHEQUES FOR COLLECTION

12.  STANDING ORDERS

13. TELEPHONE BANKING

14.  SAFE CUSTODY

15. CHEQUE BOOKS

–  Sale of cheque leaflet

–  Replacement of Lost Cheque Book

16.   DEBIT CARDS AND CREDIT CARDS

17.    REVOLVING CREDITS

18.   COLLATERAL MANAGEMENT

19.   TRANSFER OF DOCUMENTS TO OTHER BANKS

20.    GUARANTEES/BONDS/TENDER/PERFORMANCE

21.    REQUEST FOR FOREX DRAFTS

22.   OUTWARDS TRANSFER: SWIFT/TELEX

–  Drafts/Money Orders – Customer

23.   TRAVELLERS CHEQUES, DRAFTS

24.   CHEQUE LODGEMENTS – (FOR CORPORATE BODIES AND THIRD PARTIES ONLY)

25.    EVACUATION FEE (CASH-IN-TRANSIT)

26.    UNPAID STANDING ORDER

27.   CLOSURE OF ACCOUNTS

28.    REMOTE BANKING SERVICES

–  Online Banking (Internet)

–  E-statements

–  E-clients

–  Phone banking

–  SMS banking

–  Mobile Banking

–  Monthly subscription

–  Financial Transaction Fee

29.   LENDING FEES

–  Commitment Fee (Arrangement fee, Processing fee, facility fee)

–  Processing Fee

–  Property Valuation Fee (Open market value)

–  Guarantee Commission

–   Bid Security

–  Bank Credit Letter (Letter of Intent)

–  Mobilization Guarantee

–  Retention Guarantee

–  Performance Bond

–  Default or restructured

30.   OTHER LOANS, EXCLUDING SALARY ADVANCE

–  Arrangement Fees

–  New Loans

–  Top-Ups

–  Early Settlement Fees

31.   LETTERS OF CREDIT (IMPORTS)

Establishment Commission

–  Arrangement Fee

* Presentation under L/C Drawings Amendments:

–  Increase in Amount

–  Extention of period

–  Extention of period – another quarter

–  Discrepancy Other amendments:

32.   DOCUMENTARY BILLS FOR COLLECTION (IMPORTS)

Handling charges – customers Negotiation Commission

–  Advice of fate

–  Bills deleted

–  Protest Payment Commission

–  Holding charges (per quarter)

Prior Approval – Customers with:

–  Own Resources

–  Telex/Cable charges

– Swap charge

Customers allocated funds from Bank;

ExchangeTelex / Cable charges

By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post List of taxable financial services released by GRA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“Some of the content of the report are incorrect and those content are fundamental to the conclusion drawn about the future of Subah’s work,” he said.

His comment follows criticisms by some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) about the composition of the technical committee which according to them affected the outcome of the committee’s investigations.

The chairman of the committee, Dr. Edward Siaw defended the composition of the committee and also refuted claims that the report was a sham.

Government in November 2003 set up a technical committee to review and renegotiate the service agreement between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Subah InfoSolutions which saw the payment of an alleged GHC 144 million for no work done; an allegation the committee discounted.

The GRA contracted Subah to electronically monitor domestic call data records (CDRs) of the telecommunication companies in the country to enable the GRA collect appropriate taxes from the telcom companies.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, Mr. Sakyi Addo denied sections of the report which indicated that the telecom companies denied Subah the request to undertake an electronic monitoring, “that is not correct.”

“He disclosed that Subah was not introduced to the telecom companies by the GRA until October 28th, 2013 ‘but they were being paid already since 2010.”

He also revealed that Subah’s mandate was to work on domestic traffic in relation to communication service tax but they rather worked on international traffic after they acquired the call data records given to the National Communications Authority (NCA) by the telcos.

He therefore concluded that from all indications, Subah is either “irredeemably incompetent…or that they are fatally fraudulent…that is a problem.”

The Telecom Chamber boss lamented over the failure of the technical committee to invite the telcos to seek first hand clarification on the matter.

“If they did not do electronic monitoring and if they did not analyze call data records relating to their mandate, then what did they do to be paid GHC 74 million?” he asked.

According to him, his outfit has been cooperating with Subah as an agent of the GRA for auditing purposes adding that Subah was mandated to audit telcos “and it’s about integrity, it’s about the integrity of the signatory that says that these accounts are clean, these records are clean and so for us, we are concerned that the audit that will be done on telcos by Subah may not be credible.”

Click on link below to listen to Kwaku Sekyi Addo

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan

The post Subah is ”irredeemably incompetent or fatally fraudulent” – Telecoms Chamber appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Some social commentators and Civil Society Organization (CSOs) have raised serious concerns over the composition of the technical committee which was set up by government.

It was made up of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the GRA, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Attorney General (AG) and Subah Info-Solutions.

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) says the institutions represented on the committee were one way or the other, linked to the case, therefore, their findings and recommendations cannot be trusted.

The chairman, Dr. Edward Siaw on Eyewitness News insisted “it is not a sham, we did a professional job and when the report went, it was looked at, it was referred to other government agencies and then government accepted it.”

He also denied reports that Subah had a representation on the committee explaining that, the three representatives from Subah only sat in the committee’s meetings during the re-negotiating of the contract between Subah and the GRA.

“They were party to the contract so that is when they came but on the other issues, like the validity of the contract, they were not part,” he clarified.

He stressed that it was imperative for the representatives of Subah to be present at the re-negotiating of the contract and therefore, there is no case of conflict of interest.

Mr. Siaw admitted working closely with the GRA through the Finance Ministry as a Tax Policy Consultant but vehemently denied any case of another conflict of interest in the investigations of the technical committee.

“I can assure you, I am a professional and I know what a conflict is and what is not a conflict,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mary Adams of the GII observed that despite the explanations being given by Mr. Siaw, “there is a case of serious conflict of interest in connection with the chairperson of the committee.”

She called for the setting up of a new committee to conduct another investigation into the Subah-GRA deal “so that we will get better results because, what we fed into the system is what we got back.”

According to her, Ghana is having serious challenges in dealing with matters of corruption “and so if we have had the opportunity and government is supposed to show commitment, we believe this is not the right way at all.”

Background

In November 2013, government constituted a technical committee to investigate a contract agreement between the GRA and Subah Info-solutions after news broke that the GRA had paid huge amounts of money to Subah for no work done.

Subah was contracted by the GRA to electronically monitor domestic call data records (CDRs) of the telecommunication companies in the country to enable the GRA collect appropriate taxes from the telcom companies.

The technical committee was to review and renegotiate the service agreement between the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) and Subah Info-solution.

The committee’s report on the matter described the Subah-GRA contract as valid and can herefore, not be set aside.

The report also discounted earlier claims that the GRA paid GHC 144 million to Subah for services rendered within three years but clarified that an amount of GHC 74 million was rather paid.

But there is widespread dissatisfaction with the work of the committee.

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan

 

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The Executive Director of the GII, Vitus Azeem told Citi News, the institutions represented on the committee were one way or the other, linked to the case “and when you constitute these people in the committee to investigate themselves, I don’t know what else anybody would have expected…it was a waste of time.”

Government in 2013 set up a technical committee to investigate an agreement between the GRA and Subah Info-solutions after news broke that the GRA had paid huge amounts of money to Subah for no work done.

Subah was contracted by the GRA to electronically monitor domestic call data records (CDRs) of the telecommunication companies in the country to enable the GRA collect appropriate taxes from the telcom companies.

The technical committee was to review and renegotiate the service agreement between the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) and Subah Info-solution.

It was made up of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the GRA, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Attorney General (AG) and Subah Info-Solutions.

The report among other things said, GHC 74 million was paid to Subah-Info-solutions instead of the reported GHC 144 million for services rendered within three years.

Earlier investigations however revealed, Subah was paid GHC 144 million for no work done; a claim the committee rebuffed.

According to the GII, the committee failed to look at other aspects of the contract apart from establishing the legitimacy of the board chairman of GRA to sign the contract.

The committee in its report stated that the contract agreement between the two institutions cannot be set aside, but the GII is of the opinion that that advice could have been given the AG because, “you don’t need a committee to come out and say whether the contract can be set aside or not.”

Mr. Azeem pointed out that the terms of reference for the committee was to review and re-negotiate agreement but rather focused their attention on the validity of the contract “so I think the committee didn’t actually do us any good at all.”

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan

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