The four Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) namely Gateway Services Limited, Inspection & Control Services Limited, BIVAC International Limited and Ghana Link Network Services Limited have rubbished recent media reports purporting that they have willfully caused financial loss to state.

In separate interviews with The Enquirer, the Managing Directors of the companies unanimously branded the media reports as ignorant, malicious, inaccurate, baseless and irresponsible. Consequently, they have vehemently dismissed with utmost contempt the reports which also claimed that the DICs have conspired with the import trade community and by design engaged in operating criminal syndicates resulting in huge losses of revenue to the state. They continued that the DICs do not have the mandate to collect government revenue specifically customs duties and taxes as being alleged, adding it is a strict function of the Customs Excise and Preventive Services to collect those government revenue.

However, the MDs assured that they support any activity that will parametrically review the cause(s) of any variances between the assessments pro-offered by the Destination Inspection Scheme Companies & the actual collections by the Customs Division. The DIC bosses-Mr. Nabali, Bawa(GIS), Mr. David Christian(ICS), Mr. Jaime Barton (BIVAC) and Nana Asamoah-Boadu,(Ghana Link) rebuffed the media claim that DICs have processed more than six million transactions. They noted that since the inception of the Destination Inspection Scheme in 2000, they have jointly processed significantly less than two million transactions. “The authors, perpetrators and/or sponsors of the said press articles did not seek any clarification and/or technical opinion of any of the DICs resulting in allegations that are ignorant of the processes & procedures under the Destination Inspection Scheme and indeed appear to be pursuing a long running agenda to introduce a new, untested and unverified scheme in the import revenue management process without due process”, the MD of GIS pointed out strongly. “We are Institutions of International Repute with active contracts, support offices & affiliates on a global scale and enjoy the goodwill of numerous Governments worldwide. The aforementioned articles appear designed solely for the purpose of injuring the reputation of the Destination Inspection Scheme Companies through propagation of malicious, inaccurate & baseless allegations, noted the General Manager of ICS, Mr. Christian. Further, they explained that the term “unutilized FCVRs” refers to both uncollected FCVRs and FCVRs that have been collected but no gateway pass has been issued thereon. The numerous reasons include but not limited to, Clearance on Permit, Warehousing, Re-Exports, Customs Auctions, Smuggling of Goods out of Customs Custody, Consignments awaiting Customs Clearance, Short Landing, Trade Disputes (e.g. between Importer & Shipping Lines/Banks/Exporters) among others. They added that it is that proper that a thorough investigation by competent authorities be undertaken, on a case by case basis, prior to drawing any conclusions. The DIC bosses made it known that they have indeed consistently identified outstanding and emergent issues affecting the implementation of the Destination Inspection Scheme and forwarded these alongside appropriate recommendations to the relevant authorities for action. ‘This has been done through periodic & exception reports and in various official inter-stakeholder fora that includes the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority. Our recommendations are in various stages of implementation by the relevant authorities who would be in a better position to advice on the implementation status’, they stressed. They affirmed that their global experience has created an understanding that the working methods for the business community differ from country to country including the operations of the clearing and forwarding agents adding that it is their job to respond to the respective environment in order to facilitate International Trade.

“We are glad to say that our experience in Ghana has been a success story so far despite the challenges as we keep adapting to and solving the anomalies and abnormalities we confront in our daily operations. This results in raising the standards of declarations from the importers and their agents and bringing them up to standard. This is where our added value delivers maximum revenue impact to the State”, they affirm

They avowed that the DICs remain steadfast in continuing to support the Governments Revenue Mobilization, Trade Facilitation and Trade Security Enhancement objectives through International Best Practice and in accordance with the World Trade Organization Agreement on Customs Valuation, of which Ghana is a signatory of.