Customs officers engage in cross-examination

Accra, Sept. 20, GNA - Two persons who were until recently officers of the Ghana Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) on Wednesday crossed-examined each other at the Committee Investigating Operational Malpractices at the CEPS in Accra.

They are Ms. Millicent Kweikor Akpo-Teye, then Head of the Auction Unit and Mr William Kwaku Apeadu, then Officer in-Charge of the State Warehouse at Tema.

Uncharacteristic of cross-examinations at the committee, both officers remained calm as they queried each other. Ms Akpo-Teye said she had been head of the Auction Unit for 20 months and was always present to supervise auction sales. She said writing of the list of containers to be auctioned had been the preserve of the Auction Unit.

She answered in the affirmative that as officer in- charge of the State Warehouse, Mr. Apeadu had no business in the writing of chits for auctioned goods.

Ms Akpo-Teye, however, maintained that it was true that Mr Apeadu had teamed up with one auctioneer, Mr Quao, to offer chicken parts to James Mensah, an auctioneer.

She agreed that she had asked Mr Apeadu to prepare a list of all outstanding containers for the last auction before the Committee was set up, but added that only part of the list was brought and that was much later than the time she had requested for it.

Ms Akpo-Teye then prayed the Committee to exchange positions with Mr Apeadu for her to cross-examine him. She asked Mr Apeadu if he remembered she called him to sell the said container of chicken wings at their level without it going for auction.

Mr Apeadu replied in the negative and added that the chicken wings were perishables and were not sold outside the auction. Mr Bashiru Mohammed, another witness who is a scrap dealer, also cross-examined Ms Akpo-Teye. The two witnesses angrily posed and answered questions, with accusations and counter accusations. The Chairman, Mr Justice Samuel Glenn Baddoo, however, expressed surprise when Ms Akpo-Teye admitted that neither auctioneers nor bidders examined the content s of the containers marked for auction before they went to the mart.

According to Ms Akpo-Teye, auctioneers and bidders went by a list of the items that the Auction Unit gave them, without physically inspecting the goods in the container.

Mr Mohammed had told the Committee that he bought sawn timber at a CEPS auction, but it turned out to be rotten wood. He is praying the Committee to impel CEPS to refund the amount of 4,500 Ghana cedis he paid on the timber, as he claimed CEPS and Ms Akpo-Teye had "dribbled" him.

The Finance Minister inaugurated the four-member committee last July to investigate allegations of operational malpractices at the CEPS. It is also to establish administrative actions against culpable personnel and identify management weaknesses in dealing expeditiously with disciplinary matters. The Committee is also reviewing the systems, procedures, processes, rules and regulations of CEPS in relation to its auction procedures and examine the role of clearing agents, auctioneers and other related matters and recommend specific actions or alternatives for disposing of seized goods. 20 Sept. 07