PBAY Limited to deduct 2% after efforts to retrieve locked-up funds for investors

Hundreds of aggrieved Gold Coast Fund Management Investors in Sekondi-Takoradi and its environs on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd 2020, trooped to meeting ground as executives invited them to sign an agreement forms to facilitate the released of their locked up funds at Securities and Exchange Commission “SEC” aftermath of collapsed banks and financial institutions about 4 years ago.

The Gold Coast Fund Management customers in Sekondi-Takoradi and its environs at the meeting on 2nd November 2020, were issued with forms to tender in with the necessary information.

“A company, we don’t know the owners, has been set up to make an effort to get the Investments retrieved they will withhold 2% of our investments for their effort”, aggrieved investors hinted.

The agreement form indicate that Two Percent “2%” of each investment Account should be directly debited in favour of “PBay” Limited in consideration of its efforts to aid in the facilitation and payments of investment Account holder’s locked up funds with Securities and Exchange Commission “SEC” within an adjustment time frame of thirty “30” days from the date of execution in receipt of of the agreement.

According to some of the aggrieved Gold Coast Fund Management they agree with the 2% deduction if truly their locked up funds would be retrieved from the Securities and Exchange Commission through the unknown “PBAY LIMITED”.

Sekondi-Takoradi based reporter investigations revealed that majority of the aggrieved customers were found not reading the full details of the documents issued to them to be filled with account details.

Some of the aggrieved Gold Coast Fund Management investors in an interview with Vision1 Fm western regional correspondent, Benjamin Bray, alleged that some gurus in a certain political party are behind the move to pay their locked up funds before the 2020 December polls.

Filed By: Benjamin Bray – Vision1 Fm

C/R: Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana Engage Stakeholders on Tax Compliance

A tax advocacy group, “Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana” on Thursday 9th September, had a zonal tax dialogue with stakeholders and the media on an equitable and just tax system that serves both developmental and democratic aspiration of the citizens.

The Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana was established in 2011 and drawn together by the common interest in advocating for the voiceless in society through the influencing of policy processes that contribute to public fiscal accountability, equity, poverty reduction and revenue mobilisation at all levels.

The meeting was part of the Ghana Tax Dialogue Project being undertaken by the coalition with support from OSIWA.

Meanwhile the purpose of the dialogue was for stakeholders to contribute to increase tax compliance and responsibility by citizens and corporate organizations operating in Ghana.

Addressing the stakeholders and the media to the first physical tax dialogue meeting of Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana in the Central Region the National Treasure, Mrs. Dorcas Lomotey indicated that Ghana continues to be endowed with natural resources, mostly on extractives “Minerals, Oil” and other primary commodities including Timber, Cocoa, Coffee among others.

She disclosed stated that raw commodity exports are detrimental to the wider leakages in the national economy since the raw materials are exported in their raw state with out-value addition to create jobs and improve incomes which would have raked in revenue in terms of corporate tax.

According to the Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana National Treasure, development at the local level have suffered because of the over dependence on inadequate Central Government subventions which are expected to be supplemented by ceded revenues by national Government.
Meanwhile the development of every country depends on the contribution of her citizens in terms tax generation.

Mrs. Dorcas Lomotey further said Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana in 2019 extended its engagement to Takoradi, Sefwi Wiaoso, Ho and Koforidua whereas the southern zone hosted its first event in Cape Coast recently.
Again the Tax advocacy group “TJC” is embraced with three zonal branches including Northern, Middle and Southern Zones.

Mrs. Lomotey emphasize that Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana seeks to work with like minded stakeholders at the local and national level to deliver tax justice in Ghana.

Furthermore “TJC” exist to promote transparency, integrity and accountability in the tax systems particularly in Ghana.

“people should be supported to get more involved in the process of deciding what to tax, whom to tax, and how to tax, as well as in collecting and spending tax revenues”, Tax Justice Coalition-Ghana emphasize.

Filed By: Benjamin Bray – Vision1 Fm

1D1F: Prez Akufo-Addo commissions Ekumfi fruits and juices factory

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday, 21st August 2020, has commissioned the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory, a project initiated under the One-District-One-Factory initiative of his Government.

According to President Akufo-Addo, the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory is a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, and has one of the most modern, automated agro-processing plants in the country.

“A total investment of fifteen million dollars, ($15 million), of which ten million dollars ($10 million) was a facility from Ghana Exim Bank, has been made. Presently, the production capacity of the factory is ten (10) tonnes of processed juice per hour, utilizing some ten thousand (10,000) fruits per hour. This means that this factory requires four (4) acres of pineapple fruits to be harvested for processing every hour,” he added.

Commissioning the factory, the President recounted how, on 21st August 2017, some seven (7) months after taking office, he cut the sod for the construction of the the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory, the first 1-District-1-Factory project of his Government.

He stated that “In my remarks, I appealed for the unalloyed support of every Ghanaian for the success of this project. Unfortunately, our political opponents did not heed this call, with some going as far as calling this project a hoax and a political gimmick, and with some describing it as ‘a grasscutter breeding house’.

The President continued, “Nearly, three years down the line, we have confounded the doubting Thomases, and I am very happy to be back here in Ekumfi, and, indeed, very proud to commission the Ekumfi Fruit and Juices Factory. As we can all see, this project has been well-planned and well-thought through, with the raw materials needed for the successful implementation of this project already present, and an outgrower scheme in place”.

Explaining the rationale for the 1D1F initiative, President Akufo-Addo noted that the initiative is designed to transform the industrial landscape of the country, and build the capacities of local entrepreneurs and existing enterprises to produce high quality products and services for both domestic and foreign markets.

Further, it seeks to create employment particularly, for the youth, in rural and peri-urban communities, and thereby improve income levels and standard of living, as well as reduce rural-urban migration.

“That is why Ekumfi, which is one of the richest districts in the country in terms of natural resources, has validated the Government’s approach to industrialization, through value addition,” he added.

With 1,000 acres of pineapple under cultivation, employing about 475 outgrowers, the factory has created direct employment opportunities for over five hundred and fifty (550) people including engineers, food scientists, marketing professionals, accountants, and technicians. In addition, more than one thousand (1,000) indirect job opportunities in Ekumfi and other adjoining districts have been created.

“The Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory is yet another example of Government’s determination to promote the industrial transformation of our country. Government will continue to partner the private sector to establish similar modern factories, and which would be globally competitive, and take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area, that will begin trading on 1st January next year,” he said.

Commending the Promoters of Ekumfi Fruits Juice Factory for putting up an excellent, modern processing facility in Ekumfi Nanaben in support of the Industrial Transformation Agenda of the Government, President Akufo-Addo also commended the Chiefs and Traditional Authorities for the release of land for the project, and urged all the farmers and workers to be disciplined, and eschew any negative tendencies that may undermine the success of this great project.

Story: Sheila Satori Mensa

NLA to Earn GHC30m from KGL Technology Limited’s Collaboration for 2020

The National Lottery Authority (NLA) would receive an unprecedented financial commitment of Thirty Million Ghana Cedis from the licensing of KGL Technology Limited for the year 2020. This achievement is breathtaking and unprecedented in the annals of the Authority.

The ability of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) and KGL Technology Limited to raise Thirty Million Ghana Cedis for the Consolidated Fund during this era of the Coronavirus pandemic would be a remarkable achievement for both NLA and KGL Technology Limited. The *959# has been doing very well, serving as an additional revenue stream that is augmenting revenue generation capacity of the National Lottery Authority (NLA).

KGL Technology Limited, a wholly owned Ghanaian entity is a newly licensed Online Lotto Marketing company responsible for the running of NLA’s official short code *959#.

One of the core business mandate of KGL Technology Limited is to advance the digitalization of lottery on behalf of the National Lottery Authority in line with the digitalization policy of Government.

The Government of Ghana is committed to a robust digital framework that supports digitization and digitalization of the economy aimed at benefiting every citizen.

The National Lottery Authority (NLA) since 2008 has been trying to digitalised it’s operations but to no avail until the coming onboard of KGL Technology Limited.

KGL Technology Limited paid an initial Ten million Ghana Cedis (Ghc 10,000,000) as part of the Licensing requirement. The Company is expected to make payments of Ten Million Ghana Cedis
(Ghc 10,000,000) for the Months of September and December 2020 respectively, totaling Thirty Million Ghana Cedis (Ghc 30,000,000) for the year 2020.

The implementation of the Digital Policy has been very supportive and critical for the continuous survival of the lottery industry especially in this era of the Coronavirus pandemic.

KGL Technology Limited would invest hugely into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in line with its mission and vision for the industry.

Issued by: Public Relations Unit of NLA

Story: Sheila Satori Mensa

“Purchase garments, textiles, vehicles produced in Ghana” – Prez Akufo-Addo to Public Agencies

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has directed all public agencies to source garments, textiles and vehicles from domestic producers in the country.

Speaking at the unveiling of the first Volkswagen assembled vehicles on Monday, 3rd August 2020, President Akufo-Addo explained that when COVID-19 reared its head in Ghana, one of the key objectives set by Government, in response, was to use the challenge of the pandemic as an opportunity to inspire the expansion of the country’s domestic capability, and deepen our self-reliance.

“To wit, we want to rely on the things we make and grow, not on the things we import. Indeed, the pandemic has disrupted the global supply chain, but it is also opening up opportunities for us to enhance our industrial, productive capacity, increase our agricultural output to engender our food security, and, generally, boost Ghanaian exports to markets in the continent and beyond,” he said.

A clear case in point, according to the President, has been the country’s recent experience in the garment and textiles sector, with the onset of COVID-19.

“With the support of Government, our, hitherto, dormant domestic garment factories have, over the past few months, been revived, and have been able to produce, currently, fifteen million face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPEs) for frontline health workers, and for all those, i.e. students, teaching and non-teaching staff, involved in the partial reopening of our junior and senior high schools, universities and other tertiary institutions,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued, “This has saved our nation millions of dollars in foreign exchange, and, at a time of job losses, has created jobs for thousands of people, especially young people, across the country. These job opportunities would have, otherwise, gone to foreigners in distant shores, had we chosen to import these PPEs.”

Government, the President stressed “is determined to continue this development with appropriate policy, including insisting that all public agencies purchase, henceforth, their textile and garment needs from domestic sources.”
He added that Government wants to replicate this example in all other sectors of the economy, including the automobile industry, adding that “we want to assemble and produce vehicles in Ghana, and, thereby, reduce, eventually, our over-reliance on the importation of used vehicles.”

To this end, President Akufo-Addo said the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, has issued, recently, a new directive to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and, indeed, to the Public Procurement Authority, to give first preference to the acquisition of locally assembled vehicles, when public funds are used to buy vehicles.

He revealed further that, in the Finance Minister’s Mid-Year Budget Review Statement to Parliament, Government is going to establish an Automobile Industry Development Support Centre, which will, amongst others, co-ordinate the technical processes for licensing domestic vehicle assemblers and manufacturers, and monitor, also, their compliance with industry regulations and standards.

The Centre, in addition, will also co-ordinate the implementation of an essential element of a viable automotive sector, that is the establishment of a Vehicle Financing Scheme, which will link financial institutions to individuals and groups interested in purchasing newly-assembled vehicles in Ghana.

“Furthermore, the Centre will carry out an Automotive Skills Enhancement Programme to provide requisite skills for the various categories of the value chain of the automobile industry. All these measures are situate in the context of the Ghana Automotive Development Policy,” he added.

Story: Sheila Satori Mens

JUST IN: Supreme Court Orders Closure Of Ecobank Head Office

The Supreme Court of Ghana has ordered the closure of the Head Office of Ecobank in Accra, reportghana.com Sighted this on Ghanaxtra

This order was given by the Supreme court on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

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The decision follows the inability of the bank to settle a GH¢4 million debt owed to a businessman. Visit Later for more updates

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“China biggest investor in Ghana; trade volumes exceeding $7.4bn”

China is now the biggest investor to Ghana with investments creating about 100,000 jobs for Ghanaian citizens with trade volumes exceeding $7.40 billion.

This was disclosed by the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Shi Ting Wang who paid a courtesy call on Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional integration Shirley Ayorkor Botchway on Friday, June 5 2020.

“Now, we are the biggest investor to Ghana and our investment created about 100,000 jobs for the local people in addition to the government projects, the private investment to Ghana is also very strong. There are about 10 big private investor factories which were officially launched in the past two years, mainly in the manufacturing industry. Certainly, if we are talking about our people to people exchanges, we are also very proud of that. In the past two years, China has offered about six hundred full scholarships to Ghana and about 2000 short term training opportunities to Ghana,” he stated.

The ambassador attributed the development to increasing cooperation and partnership between Ghana and the Chinese government.

“We are number one trade partners. Last year, the trade volume was $7.4 billion ranking the seventh in the whole of Africa and in the past two years there are so many projects rolling out between our two countries,” Mr Wang said.

Story: Sheila Satori Mensa

John Mahama implicated by Airbus corruption scandal

Relatives of the former president are implicated in an investigation into the corruption scandal that has shaken European aeronautics giant Airbus. The revelations come at a bad time for John Dramani Mahama, who is taking a fresh run at the presidency this year.

One could hardly have imagined a more unlikely setting for a revelation of this nature.

The scene takes place in November 2010: Philip Middlemiss, former star of the successful British series Coronation Street, goes with his girlfriend, actress Leanne Davis, to a charity gala at a cricket club in the north-west of England.

In keeping with the theme of the evening – psychedelics of the sixties – the actor is dressed in a three-piece plaid suit and Chelsea boots.

When a local newspaper asks him what his plans are, Middlemiss’s answer is unexpected to say the least. “I’m working out in Ghana, in West Africa. My best friend’s brother’s the vice president. So I went out there thinking of directing a feature film and now I’m working with the government.” The journalist, obviously taken aback, asked him if this was a joke. “No, no, that’s the truth!” he replies, laughing.

Ten years later, the results of a joint investigation by French, British and US authorities into alleged corruption at the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus in 23 countries, including Ghana, shed new light on the exchange. And they have plunged John Dramani Mahama, the former president who was planning to make a political comeback this year, into turmoil.

A case of kickbacks

Between 2009 and 2012, John Dramani Mahama was the Vice President of Ghana. After President John Atta Mills died in July 2012, Mahama took over the Presidency and the leadership of the National Democratic Congress, then won the national elections in December that year.

But four years later, Mahama lost the presidential election to veteran contender Nana Akufo Addo by over a million votes.

Now Mahama’s political opponents accuse him of having links to a corrupt network in a case of kickbacks in the contract for the sale of Airbus military equipment to the Republic of Ghana.

Philip Middlemiss, Leanne Davis and John Dramani Mahama’s brother, Samuel Adam Mahama, are suspected of having acted as intermediaries between Airbus and the Ghanaian president.

These accusations, which have been reported in recent weeks by many local media and the now ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), are a heavy blow to this seasoned politician, who dreams of winning back the supreme magistracy and who has already been invested by his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for the presidential election due to be held in December.

Political bomb

At the end of March, a new twist in his campaign took a further turn for the worse: Ghana’s special prosecutor, Martin Amidu, who had found the corruption suspicions credible enough to open an investigation on 4 February, announced that he had summoned four “suspects”.

He wants to hear from Philip Middlemiss and his collaborator Sarah Furneaux, as well as Leanne Davis and Samuel Adam Mahama.

All four have British nationality and it is difficult to imagine them travelling to Ghana in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic to answer questions from the courts. But the announcement had the effect of a political bomb.

John Dramani Mahama has so far declined to comment, but his lawyer has said that the former president has not received any bribes.

The Secretary-General of the NDC, for his part, has stated that the current period, marked by COVID-19, is not conducive to such controversy. “Any judge who sits on such a case will vanish,” said Stephen Atubiga, a senior member of the party, causing an outcry.

Many are calling on the former head of state to explain himself or even withdraw from the presidential race.

NPP spokesman Awal Mohammed said John Dramani Mahama has lost all credibility in the run-up to the upcoming elections.

A view shared by Kofi Akpaloo, the candidate of the Liberal Party of Ghana.

“It is definitely inconsistent with accountability when a person who supervised such a transaction is going round canvassing for votes from the people of Ghana, and yet that same person does not want to open up to the people of Ghana on the transaction; to me it is the height of inconsistency and lack of accountability,” said Yeboah Dame, Assistant Attorney General

Former boss of Indonesian Airline involved in the Airbus Bribery Scandal jailed 8 years

The Jakarta Corruption Court has sentenced Emirsyah Satar to eight years in prison after finding the former President Director of Garuda Indonesia guilty of accepting Rp 49.3 billion (US$3.4 million) in bribes and laundering Rp 87.5 billion related to aircraft procurement.

This is according to the Jakarta Post.

The court has also fined Emirsyah Rp 1 billion and ordered S$2.1 million in restitution, as reported by Antara news agency.

The sentence was smaller than what KPK prosecutors sought. They advocated for 12 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rp 10 billion based on Emirsyah having received bribes from British engineering company Rolls-Royce in connection with the procurement of aircraft parts and from European aviation giant Airbus in connection with aircraft procurement, among other sources.

According to the verdict, one of the reasons for the lighter sentence was Emirsyah’s role in “bringing Garuda Indonesia recognition as a prestigious airline in the world.” Judge Anwar read the verdict during a hearing on Friday.

Both the defendant and KPK prosecutors told the court they would take time to consider before appealing the verdict.

The KPK indicted Emirsyah for accepting Rp 8.8 billion, US$882,200, 1 million euros and S$1.18 million in bribes on five separate occasions while procuring airplanes and parts.

The antigraft body also named former Garuda engineering and management director Hadinoto Soedigno and former Garuda executive project manager Agus Wahjudo as Emirsyah’s co-conspirators under the bribery charge.

The KPK accused Emirsyah of laundering Rp 87.4 billion through multiple channels and also implicated Soetikno Soedarjo, the former president director of diversified retail holding company PT Mugi Rekso Abadi.

The antigraft body stated that a portion of the money was changed into several different foreign currencies and transferred to multiple overseas bank accounts in violation of Article 3 of the 2010 Money Laundering Law.

In a separate hearing on Friday, the corruption court gave Soetikno six years in prison and a Rp 1 billion fine for bribing Emirsyah and contributing to the money laundering committed by the former Garuda president director.

The verdict was lower than the KPK’s demand of 10 years in prison and a fine of Rp 10 billion. The bench did not grant prosecutors’ wish of US$14.7 million and 11.6 million euros in restitution for Soetikno.

Soetikno and the antigraft body’s prosecutors said they would take time to consider before filing an appeal against the verdict.

Source: The Jakarta Post