Konadu & co didn’t pay tax

Subsequent events have confirmed that The Crusading Guide story which disclosed that CARIDEM Development Company Ltd- owned by Sherry Ayittey and some top members of the 31 December Women’s Movement (DWM), including the ex-First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings- did not file tax returns with Ghana’s statutory revenue collecting agency- the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

For the past eight years since CARIDERM bought the Nsawam Cannery, the DWM’s company has not had a tax file at the IRS. An authentic source close to the company hinted The Crusading Guide in the course of investigations that the CARIDERM had reacted to a query sent to it from the Auditor-General’s Department.

According to the source, the company indicated that it had not willingly refused to file Annual Returns and that the company had hired a firm of Chartered Accountants, (Kwessie & Parters) since 1998 to bring its Accounts up to the date and regularise its status with regards to Annual Returns and Income Tax.

The source quoted a portion of the company’s reaction to the query. “We believe that the position is what is now because the subsidiary accounts needed to be audited and incorporated in that of CARIDERM. The Chartered Accountants have by their letter dated 9 September 2002 Ref K&P/CDCL/1/2002 indicated that the Accounts are being prepared.”

The Crusading Guide had published that Nana Konadu was directly involved in the sale of Nsawam Cannery to CARIDERM because it was she who signed the Sale and Purchase Agreement on behalf of the DWM’s company.

Reacting to this, it stated that “CARIDERM is owned by 31st DWM, should sign. Furthermore, 31st DWM could issue a cheque for the purchase, without incurring the charge of passing it through CARIDERM. There is nothing to hide.

On the ownership of the company, the source told the paper that “Ms Sherry Ayittey was holding all the shares in trust for the Registered subscribers of the 31st DWM and that a trust deed was duly signed, registered at the High Court and lodged with the Registrar of Companies.”

It would be recalled that in the 12 – 18 September 2002 edition of The Crusading Guide it was indicated that “with a loan of $500,000 taken from government funds through Ecobank in 1997, CARIDERM facilitated and consummated the purchase of GIHOC Nsawam Cannery through the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) in a manner that smacked a fraud.”

The paper quoted a document which maintained that, “the offices of the Taxpayer’s Identification Number (TIN) were also contacted and it had not information on the company.”

It continued, “District offices contacted, according to the document, included Adabraka, Achimota, Ashaiman, Nima, Makola, Kaneshie, Teshie/Nungua, Osu, Tema, Ho and LTO- but none of them had any information…” on the tax status of CARIDERM.