Akufo-Addo cannot remove Labianca owner from Council of State - Group

Calls for Madam Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh to be removed from the Council of State following a Special Prosecutor investigation that said her frozen foods company, Labianca, had benefited from benchmark mark down values from the Ghana Revenue Authority has angered some players in the industry.

A group of frozen foods importers is calling the demand, “a diabolic instigation of president Akufo-Addo

Read full article.to victimize a frozen foods importer simply because she has benefited from a policy that the State itself operated.”

At a press conference in Accra, President Akufo-Addo was called upon to ignore the calls to remove Madam Asoma-Hinneh and rather look into the circumstances under which two state institutions conflicted with each other over a state policy.

“The granting of markdown of 5 to 10% in benchmark values to an importing company is the policy of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The question then is, how come the Special Prosecutor says that Labianca unjustifiably benefited from it? It is either the GRA is wrong or the Special Prosecutor is wrong,” said Mr. Michael Gyan, leader of the group of frozen foods importers.

The protest follows calls for the removal of Madam Asomah-Hinneh from the Council of State after the Special Prosecutor completed an investigation into how her frozen foods company, Labianca enjoyed between 5% and 10% mark down of Customs benchmark value on goods it imports.

Following preliminary investigations, the OSP recovered an amount of ¢1.074 million due to a shortfall in import duties paid to the state.

According to the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, Madam Asomah-Hinneh used her position as a member of the Council of State and member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to get a favourable decision from the Customs Division.

Following this, the man who petitioned the Special Prosecutor over the issue, Frank Asare, is demanding that Madam Asomah-Hinneh be removed from the Council of State on which she represents the Western Region.

The call has been supported by others including anti-corruption crusader, Mr. Vitus Azeem formerly of the Ghana Integrity Initiative.

But according to the unhappy frozen foods importers, this call is an unfair one that targets a hardworking frozen foods importer whose company only benefited from a policy.

“When they claim that Madam Asomah Hinneh used her position to benefit from the markdown benchmark value, what do they mean? Was that policy secret? No!

“The GRA had that policy in place to incentivize local companies to create more employment. If the Special Prosecutor today is saying the policy is bad and has therefore retrieved over Ghc1million that accrued from the mark-down values, then that is it. But to say that the company’s owner should be victimized is unfair,” MR. Gyan said.

This is not the first time that this controversial accusation of Madam Asomah-Hinneh and her Labianca company has attracted anger from importers. Last year, the Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana, Samson Asaki Awingobit, similarly dismissed allegations that Labianca was unfairly benefiting from the markdown values because its owner is on the Council of State.

Reacting to a publication by the digital newspaper, WhatsUp News, he told journalists the claim was steeped in ignorance.

“Another publication by an E-Newspaper also claimed the Ghana Revenue Authority had granted a markdown of 5 to 10% in benchmark values to an importing company on virtually all frozen foods it imported.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, this is a misrepresentation of fact spewed out by the said media outlet since the said markdown value was determined by the finance ministry through GRA who had acted in accordance with the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT”, Mr. Awingobit had said.