Four Lebanese in dollar smuggling attempt arrested after police tip off

A group of Lebanese Businessmen based in Accra have been arrested based on a tip-off by a police informant in Asokwa as they smuggled thousands of dollars in cash back to their country in order to avoid the payment of tax to Ghana, MyNewsGH.com can report.

They were trying to send the money to Lebanon without paying tax by arranging the dollars inside lorry tyres with the rim in place.

They will then ship the car part to Lebanon where their partners retrieve the money.

Police have since arrested all of them while investigations commence into their crime.

The Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) and the Ghana Revenue Authority have been concerned about putting in place measures to track operations of foreign firms in the country to ensure that the country’s tax law is respected.

The measure is to cure the status quo where many foreign firms change ownership and at times operating names after five years of operation in Ghana. Most companies resort to this canny way to evade tax when the tax holiday granted them expired.

Others too find crude ways of transferring cash from this country to another when their tax holiday expires.

This behaviour contributes to revenue lost to the state; it also makes mockery of the country’s laws.