Members of the Textiles, Garment and Leather Employees Union (TEGLEU) have petitioned the Minister of Finance and the Commissioner of the Customs unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), to investigate customs officials suspected of complicity in the smuggling of pirated textiles into the country.
The petition followed allegations that some customs personnel at the points of entry and along some highways were undermining the terms of an existing Memorandum of Understanding between local textile manufacturers and customs to strengthen measures to combat the smuggling of pirated textiles into the country.
According to the General Secretary of TEGLEU, Abraham Koomson, a few bad nuts within the Customs unit were deliberately frustrating efforts to deal with the problem of textile piracy.
Speaking to Class Business, he called on the authorities to identify and sanction all such customs officials.
“We have evidence to prove to them that they are aiding these smugglers and those who are evading taxes, because…we have agreed, there is an MoU that we have signed with the manufacturers and Customs and since 2010, we have been working together and achieved a lot. But why is it that this time round these guys who are scheduled to work with us are behaving the way they are behaving? If we are at risk, we invite them because after we have sorted out those pirated fabrics, we invite them to come and take over and impose duties or fines or whatever. Apart from saving the local industries, we also help them to raise their revenue collection so it is something that we find very difficult to understand. … That is why we have written to both the commissioner for CEPS and the Finance Minister,” he stated.
Source: ClassFMonline
