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Madam Jacquline Eunice Buah Asomah-Hinneh
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A member of the NPP National Communications Team, Lawrence Kwesi Botchway Jnr, has expressed dissatisfaction over the Special Prosecutor’s report on Madam Jacquline Eunice Buah Asomah-Hinneh, owner of Labianca Foods.
He has therefore insisted that “the report is not exhaustive and conclusive, and does not in any way implicate Labianca of alleged corruption as purported by sections of the media.”
Madam Eunice Buah, who is also a Council of State member, has come under series of attacks in recent times after the OSP released an alleged corruption report against her.
“I would like to opine that neither the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) or Labianca had done any wrong as claimed by the report findings,” Kwesi Botchway Jnr said in a statement yesterday.
In his opinion, the issues must be interrogated to ascertain whether or not Labianca was qualified for the Custom Advanced Rulings and whether or not she acquired same through a fraudulent means.
He said Labianca qualified for the Custom Advanced Rulings and same was done in accordance with the Customs Act 2015 (Act 891).
“For the records, this is not the first time Customs has granted such advanced rulings in Ghana. It is a normal practice with Customs of which most companies have benefitted from. Labianca is not the first company to have benefitted from same. It is never illegal for a customer to engage Customs for advanced arrangements,” he stressed.
No anomaly
According to him, he found it a flawed argument and porous debate that Labianca was able to obtain the Custom Advanced Rulings through influence peddling just because she was a member of the GPHA board.
“The fact is that customers are stakeholders too, and can be appointed to boards to represent final-end consumers in decision making. It happens in many organisations and industries. Therefore, the appointment of Madam Buah Asomah-Hinneh to the GPHA cannot count as an anomaly, as it is a normal practice,” he insisted.
“The Council of State member got onto the Council on merit. She stood for an election and won to represent Western Region and thus the caps for her removal from the Council of State is also flawed. There is no evidence to substantiate the fact that she got the Custom Advanced Rulings as a result of influence peddling,” he said.
He pointed out that Mrs Buah Asomah-Hinneh had recruited over 2500 employees directly and indirectly. “Her company’s taxes to the state is one of the highest any corporate organisation pays to government, so the vilifications, unnecessary victimisation and witch hunting must stop,” he added.