The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) says it has recovered over GHC 51 million for the Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA), from corrupt individuals and businesses in 2018.
Speaking at a Multi-Stakeholder Business Integrity Breakfast meeting in connection with the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Week, the Executive Director of EOCO, K. K Amoah stated that, with the help of the private sector, EOCO can retrieve more monies from defaulting businesses.
“Are you not being part of the problem, the private sector? And yet the private sector is seen as the engine of growth and a critical partner in the anti-corruption struggle. Let us see the private sector doing more in the anti-corruption fight for the country. Private sector needs to respect the laws of the country and pay their taxes. I wish to tell you that we have recovered over GHC 51 million for GRA,” he said.
Mr. K. K Amoah urged the private to work with state investigative agencies to help block financial leakages that encourage fraudulent activities.
“If you cheat the state it will come to EOCO and you will feel uncomfortable. I want to urge private enterprises to report suspicious transactions to EOCO, BNI and the special prosecutor’s office among others instead of sitting on such information. I know that in our fight against corruption we will need the private sector to help us.”
The Multi-Stakeholder Business Integrity Breakfast meeting in connection with the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Week, was on the theme “United Against Corruption for Development, Peace and Security. Role of the Private Sector.” The forum was organized by the Ghana Integrity Initiative in collaboration with the Private Enterprise Federation.
One major concern of every government is the huge arrears from unpaid taxes which mostly stifle efforts to achieve development goals.
In September 2018, for instance, the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, tasked the GRA to go all out to recover GHC4.4 billion from 427 corporate tax defaulters and other entities in unpaid taxes.
the Finance Minister promised that the government would give the GRA the necessary support to deal with tax defaulters.
In an address, at a Multi-Stakeholder Business Integrity Breakfast meeting in connection with the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Week, the Chief Executive Officer of the Private Enterprises Foundation, Nana Osei Bonsu, indicated that some public officials demanded bribes from the private sector during business transactions, adding: “If public officials do not demand money, the private sector players will not pay.”
He urged the private sector not to succumb to the demands but rather report public officials who demanded bribe to the law enforcement agencies to take action against them.
To reduce the level of corruption in the various sectors of the economy, he suggested the improvement of electronic transactions to reduce the human interface in business transactions.
Additionally, he said, the country needed to look at preventing corruption, instead of fighting it.
