'It's illegal for companies to relocate without notice'

Bureau for Internal Affairs (BIA), an anti-corruption organisation, has called on the government to halt the relocation or close down of companies without prior notification to clients, which sometimes leads to fraud.

BIA in a statement issued in Accra on Thursday claimed that the act encourages massive revenue loss to the state since some of the companies involved do so deliberately to evade tax or run away from indebtedness.

The statement signed by Mr Godfred Nkrumah, Coordinating Director of BIA in Accra and copied to Ghana News Agency, said it is illegal for any company to relocate or close down without notification to tax collectors, adding that the location of a business is a guarantee of its corporate responsibilities.

It alleged that one of such incidence is the closure of Abex Communication Group Limited, located at Awudome, Accra, without notification, which led to the lodging of a number of complaints by clients that visited BIA office premises.

The statement said though the Bureau is not impugning any criminal intent against the company it would however use legal means including Interpol to resolve the anomaly.

It called on the government especially the Registrar General’s Department to put in mechanisms to check these activities, including biometric registration of companies.

BIA is a centre for information gathering on public concerns with the aim of bridging the communication gap between the public and the authorities on issues negatively affecting the nation.