The Independent

The Independent reports on the revelations from the Auditor- General's report in which House of Chiefs are accused of 218.5mC fraud. Under a front page headline: "House of Chiefs in 218.5mC fraud...30mC spent on Ghost 'Commandos", the Independent says the report came out with startling revelations of fraud, losses and serious irregularities at the House of Chiefs, district assemblies and traditional councils. The paper says the report which covers the period from 1st January to 31st December, 1995, is the first of the two-fold report which has been submitted to Parliament for consideration. GRI

"Ex-CEPS official sold BMW salon car for one million cedis", is another front page story in the Independent. The paper says months after his dismissal as Commissioner of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Mr Isaac Ewun-Tohma's fate was not only determined by political machinations as arguments in some quarters suggest. It says its investigations have shown that, on the orders of former CEPS boss, one Miss Comort Appah of Dansoman in Accra, was given a 1989 model BMW for one million cedis. The Independent says the said car is one of six imported by one Mr Richard Hlomador of K-Compu Service Limited in Accra. According to the Independent, Mr Hlomador had imported four trucks, (Mercedes 207D van, Ford Transit van, Renault truck and Ford Iveco truck)and four cars (BMW 320i BMW 318i, Mercedes Benz 190e and Golf 1.3) into the country. The paper says the said cars were cleared at a combined tax valued of about 9mC with the combined tax value of the four cars being about 31mC. The Independent says a source at K-Compu Service has this to say,"because the figure was quite high for us, we applied for duty rescheduling with CEPS headquarters, which was accepted and signed by the Deputy Commissioner". GRI