A dispute over an alleged non-payment of taxes and price manipulation, between the Ministry of Land and Natural Resource and the Ghana Manganese Company (GMC), which has led to the latter been instructed to shut down its operations is expected to be resolved soon.
The GMC says its management team will soon meet the Ministry to find an amicable solution to the impasse
Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, the Chief Operating Officer, Benjamin Atsu Quarshie, confirmed that a meeting with the sector Minister has been scheduled on Friday, August 9, 2019 to try to resolve the matter.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asamoah Cheremeh, ordered the Ghana Manganese Company to shut down operations due to alleged non-payment of taxes and price manipulation from 2010 to 2017.
He said the company has been under investigation since February 2019 after preliminary checks of its finances revealed infractions.
“GMCL has not shown strong commitment to value addition in particular. There are also defaults by the company in the payment of annual minerals rights fees in excess of 4 million dollars. These and several infractions give me no option, as the sector Minister, than to close down the operations of GMCL,” he claimed.
But refuting the allegations of tax and other infractions leveled against GMC by government, Mr. Atsu Quarshie noted that the company has always been tax compliant.
“We will like to put on record, therefore, that all our tax obligations up to date have been honored. As a matter of fact, we are still waiting for an amount of $20 million in VAT refunds due us from the GRA between the periods of December 2018 and June 2019. The records are there for everyone to check at GRA. We believe that our sterling performance in honoring our tax obligation contributed to the GRA Bronze Award conferred on us for tax compliance in 2018,” he said.
Meanwhile Workers of the GMC in Tarkwa have been asked to go home until further notice, following the government’s directive for the company to shut down.
Benjamin Nana Appiah/www.adrdaily.com
