The total volume of the seized products is 810,000 litres.

Additionally, the 15 trucks will be auctioned to the public after the products have been sold to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

[contextly_sidebar id=”qxbqjQpCQ0u02NHg7atuiWDEVlvALhGd”]According to the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli, three truckloads of the products had so far been sold to GOIL.

He said the remaining products would be dispatched to GOIL stations to complete the process.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. Tampuli said the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) was in charge of the disposal of the products and the trucks.

Sale
Explaining further, Mr Tampuli said the Customs Division, in collaboration with the NPA, had sent confiscation notices to the owners of the trucks and products.

He said the management of the affected companies would also be invited before the NPA Board to explain why their company licences should not be revoked.

Mr Tampuli said the Customs Division would take the tax component from the sale of the trucks and products, while the NPA would benefit from the margins.

The NPA CEO said the public would be notified of the intended auction of the seized trucks.

Smuggling

The country risks losing a whopping GH¢1.5 billion in taxes and levies in 2017 due to the incidents of smuggling of fuel products.

Ghana lost an estimated GH¢800 million in 2016 as a result of the problem, which peaked last year.

But for smuggling, Ghana would have gained more than GH¢5 billion in revenue in 2017.

The President of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs), Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Duah, said more than 4,000 jobs would be lost this year if nothing was done about the problem.

Culprits who pose as exporters, enjoy low taxes and subsequently divert fuel products they are expected to export to Mali and Burkina Faso back to Ghana and sell them at prices lower than those of the OMCs whose prices contain taxes and levies.

Confiscation

Officials of the NPA, in collaboration with security personnel, impounded the 15 trucks in September, this year.

Each of the trucks was loaded with 54,000 litres of either petrol or diesel.

“A joint operation involving the military, the police, personnel from National Security and NPA staff, also arrested some drivers believed to be members of the fuel dumping syndicate in Tema who had in their possession, fake documents and fake Malian number plates,” Mr Tampuli said. The arrest were effected on September 12, 2017 around 5 p.m.

According to him, “the NPA received intelligence from the National Security regarding a suspicious export loading activity of petroleum products that had been carried out by some individuals with trucks stationed at a yard in Tema around Kpone, intending to dump the products at local retail outlets.”

“The operation team subsequently moved to the vicinity of the reported illegality around 7 p.m. to initially survey the area and plan the arrest of the individuals and Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs) involved.

“Following the survey, the team scheduled a raid and arrest of the parties involved in the morning of Tuesday, September 12, 2017,” Mr Tampuli said.

He said the modus operandi of the syndicate was to lift products from depots in the country using trucks with Fake Malian numbers; the products were declared for exports into Mali, but were dumped onto the Ghanaian market.

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Source: Graphic Online

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The long vehicle with registration number GN3009-09 is in police custody pending further investigations.

The seized product is 50,000 litres of diesel valued at GHc213,500.

The driver, Hamza File, is assisting the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), and the police administration to establish the source of the product.

The BNI has instructed that the vehicle should be transferred to the regional command.

The transporter, Alhaji Amadu used Star Oil Company Limited invoice to perpetuate the illegality.

Citi News‘ reliable sources at Star Oil Company Limited revealed that, the company does not own the said vehicle.

It has also been established that the NPA has disapproved of cross zonal lifting of diesel.

The measure forms part of the NPA’s strive to stop smuggling of contaminated fuel which lately gained media attention.

NPA seizes GHc1.4m smuggled petrol

Officials of the NPA last week impounded 15 truckloads of smuggled petroleum products worth GH¢1.4 million.

Each of the trucks was loaded with 54,000 litres of either petrol or diesel.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah.com/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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With 31% of votes counted, the ANC had 58.7% of the vote followed by the Democratic Alliance on 27.7%.

The ANC is widely expected to return to power although analysts say anything less than 60% of the vote for the party will be seen as a major upset.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party was in third place with 4.2%.

The electoral commission said voting passed peacefully in most areas.

Turnout was just over 72%, with about 25 million people registered to vote in 22,000 polling stations across South Africa.

The elections are the first since the death in December of Nelson Mandela – the country’s first black president – and mark 20 years since the end of white-minority rule.

Those born after the end of apartheid in 1994 were able to cast their ballots for the first time, although only a third of those entitled to do so had registered to vote.

An ANC victory would return President Jacob Zuma for a second five-year term. In the last election in 2009, the ANC saw a drop in support, polling 66% of the vote.

Speaking as he cast his vote on Wednesday, Mr Zuma said he thought “the results will be very good”, but added that the campaign had been “very challenging”.

The party emerging as the ANC’s main challenger is the Democratic Alliance (DA) – a liberal pro-business party, led by anti-apartheid activist Helen Zille, which is trying to make inroads into the black electorate.

The EFF, launched last year by former ANC youth leader Julius Malema, hopes to get its first parliamentary seats with its campaign for nationalising the mines and the forced redistribution of farmland.

Source: BBC

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