Betting machines become computer monitors to evade tax

It is becoming clear on a daily basis that Ghana is steadily losing the fight against underhand dealings and corruption, especially at the Tema Port.

A case in point is where a credible informant blew the lid on tax evasion by an importer robbing the state of revenue to the tune of about $212,500.00 and yet two years down the line, there is no report on what action has been taken on the matter and the informant has been completely ignored.

The matter was referred to the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) in 2011 to investigate how a company imported betting machines into the country but allegedly misclassified and undervalued them leading to huge loss of revenue.

In fact, an attempt by the Scandal to elicit information from Mr. Mortey Akpadzi, Chief Executive Officer on the status of the investigations hit a snag as he responded that “we (EOCO) do not talk about our operational issues” to the media. Further checks could not bring clarity as to whether there was an investigation into the matter at all.

According to official correspondence sighted by the Scandal, Supa Bets Ghana Ltd. in July 2011 imported gaming machines into the country for commercial activities. Supa Bets is authorised to do business in sports betting, entertainment facility management and racing.

The consignment arrived at the Tema Port on 30th July, 2011 on board Santa Federica, voyage number 5A. By a Bill of Laden with number GLSUSNB 2910098, dated 20th July, 2011, Game IT Solutions in South Africa shipped a 40 footer container said to contain 21 pieces of Gaming Machines with a declared weight of 2,580 kilograms to Ghana.

Intermodal Shipping Agency acted as the local shipping agent, and a commercial invoice printed on July 5th, 2011 quoted $345,366.64 as the invoice value of the Gaming Machines.

The goods were consigned to Logistic Direct Ltd to be delivered to Supa Bets as the importers.

Under some bizarre circumstances, on 1st August, 2011, a clearing agent ‘Hail Him Ltd’, submitted documents to the Sector Commander of Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) requesting to clear the same goods which were now described as Slot Monitoring Computers. A new commercial invoice was generated with $8,250.00 as the value for the same consignment.

According to the documents, gaming machines are coded as 9504 and attracts a duty of 20% plus VAT whiles Computers are duty free or zero rated, and coded 8471 under international custom rules and regulations called Harmonized Systems Code.

The informant codenamed 'Big Joe' realizing the anomalies in the cargo manifest, promptly reported the incident to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as a Whistleblower after which the GRA subsequently referred the matter to EOCO for investigations.

In a May 13, 2013 letter addressed to Mr. George Blankson, the Commissioner General of GRA, the Whistleblower complained about the seeming lack of action on the alleged tax dodging. 'Information reaching me from a very reliable source is that the fraudulent practice by the company involved was referred to the EOCO. EOCO has been compromised in this matter,' he wrote.

Per the calculations of the Informant, Supa Bets allegedly shortchanged the state by an amount of over US$200,000 in duties.

The punishment on this type of tax evasion is usually a 300% penalty which means that if the matter was carried through, Supa Bets conservatively would have had to pay the Government of Ghana almost $640,000 should they be found guilty.