By: Kekeli K. Blamey
Fourty four Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) owed BOST a total amount of GH¢59.525 million in respect of margin levies as of December 31, 2022, the 2023 Auditor General Report has revealed.
It is therefore recommending that management take immediate steps including legal action to recover the said amount and provide evidence to the audit team for verification.
Again, it review of procurement transactions of the company disclosed that management procured goods and services worth GH¢886,771 from five different suppliers/service providers and accepted Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) with the same serial numbers. Furthermore, these TCCs were issued from four different Taxpayer Service Centres, bearing the same serial number with different issuing dates.
It consequently recommended that management investigate the above irregularity and report all companies found culpable to the Public Procurement Authority and the Ghana Revenue Authority.
It further recommended that sanctions under Section 92 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended should be applied to the officers whose negligence resulted in the above infraction.
Similarly, it noted that management paid for goods and services amounting to GH¢1,049 million with a VAT component of GH¢146,799. However, it identified that these suppliers/service providers issued Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices for their respective goods and services from the same VAT invoice booklet.
It recommended to management to pursue the suppliers/service providers to provide evidence of payment of the VAT amount of GH¢146,799 to Ghana Revenue Authority, failing which the amount should be recovered from the suppliers/ service providers and paid to GRA.
