Labianca saga: Economist vows to 'expose mischief' of Francopat CEO

Economist, Christian Donkor has cited the Chief Executive Officer of Francopat Company Limited in an alleged plot to cause the collapse of La Bianca Company Limited.

Christian Donkor asserted in a discussion on Net2 television that the CEO of Francopat is on a mission to tarnish the image of the Chief Executive Officer of Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh and consequently destroy her company.

Christian Donkor said that to achieve what he considers to be a diabolic mission, the CEO of Francopat is circulating some documents.

He fumed that the activities of Francopat must be strongly condemned as La Bianca is a major player in the import sector with hundreds of Ghanaians on its payroll.

“We must protect every job so if someone wakes up and tries to collapse any job, we must stand up against it. My mission is to protect jobs, especially local giants like La Bianca. Someone who has set his heart on destroying La Bianca. The particular person is the CEO of Francopath. He is dangerous in the import and export sector.

“He has other associates. I will expose his mischief. He has retrieved information from Holland and he is using it to destroy the man. He has fished document Holland. We have to protect La Bianca if her job collapses, some people will be jobless. Francopat must be very careful because people have a lot of documents about him. It’s the woman (La Bianca) who is holding back,” he said.

His revelations add to that of former Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hannah Bissiw who made startling revelations about what claims to be the clandestine works of Francopat to destroy La Bianca.

She indicated that the businesswoman had therefore not done anything wrong to merit such a level of attack from some competitors in the industry particularly one Mr. Adu-Boffour, a customs officer who doubles as an importer and a clearing agent. A material fact that should be of concern to authorities.

She on Neat FM indicated that “I went to FrancoPat for some document and these were the document Francis Owusu gave me. To my surprise, all the information contained here are port documents to discredit someone they think I had some issues with.

She continued “They called another customs officer right in front of me and asked if you are allowed to import frozen chicken. See Adu Boffour also imports frozen chicken and doubles as a clearing agent. All the conversation they had was about the woman, Labianca. The woman is NPP, Franco is also NPP and Adu-Boffour is a customs officer, I, therefore, want to state on record that these are the information I have and they want to pull me into this but no”

She, therefore, asked all Ghanaians not to drag her into the issue as the brouhaha surrounding it was started by competitors and a customs office due to the failure by these individuals to do better than her.

TWI NEWS

It is clear from the interview that the former Minister is appalled by the attempt by competitors to rely on standard customs practices which benefits all players to discredit a Female Ghanaian company both home and aboard

“All the conversation centered around the woman because it was difficult for anybody to take his/her goods from the port unless the woman has taken hers. This I felt was very petty because they discussed how they were going to give something to some people to be able to get rid of the woman. I don’t hate the woman neither do I hate Francopat but I am against Adu-Baffour because it’s against the laws of Ghana because he is a customs officer.”. She added

Background

The OSP on August 3, 2022, released a report on its investigations into alleged corruption and corruption-related offences involving Labianca Group of Companies and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

The report by the OSP among other things implicated officials of Labianca and the Customs Division of GRA for their various roles which saw the company that deals in the importation of frozen foods benefiting a reduction in the company’s tax liabilities.

Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh, the owner of Labianca Company Limited and a Council of State member was implicated in the report for influence peddling. She was accused of using her position to get a favourable decision from the GRA leading to a reduction in her company’s tax liabilities.

The investigative report from the OSP which was titled: “Report of Investigation into Alleged Commission of Corruption and Corruption Related Offences involving Labianca Group of Companies and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority” indicated that the frozen foods company owner used her position to evade taxes.

The OSP also disclosed that an amount of ¢1.074 million was recovered from Labianca Company Limited.