Chinese company closed down for operating without permit
A Chinese company allegedly engaged in the importation of chemicals and manufacture of mattresses without a permit has been closed down at Dome in Accra.
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Huantian Deli Ghana Limited is said to be also engaged in tax evasion, mislabelling of chemicals and harbouring of illegal immigrants.
Three employees of the company – two men whose identities are yet to be disclosed and a woman whose name was given as Lilly – have been picked up by a team of immigration officials and the police.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of officials from the Debt Management and Compliance Enforcement Unit (DMCE) of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Immigration Service did underground investigations that showed that the factory was not duly registered.
Immediately the team arrived at the factory, machines that hitherto were working went silent. The Chinese took off and went to hide in the offices and bedrooms.
Persistent banging on the door by the officials forced the people to come out, and they were eventually arrested.
Putting up a dramatic show of ignorance, they could only shrug and say “no English, no English”.
But when the GRA officials mentioned police, Lilly said the owner of the company had travelled to China.
They could also not produce their passports, claiming they were in the possession of their boss. However, a search in one of the rooms revealed a passport with an emergency Ghanaian visa which expired at the end of May.
A search throughout the factory revealed non-Value Added Tax receipts and invoices issued to the company’s distribution chain in Kasoa and Winneba in the Central Region, Kade and Asuom in the Eastern Region, Kaneshie and Sapeiman in Accra. There was also an Ashfoam price list.
Interestingly, receipts and invoices of the company had an address and telephone numbers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
After taking an inventory of all items, the company was shut down.
A KIA pick-up truck, with registration number GW 8706-13, fully loaded with the company’s products ready for dispatch was parked inside the factory.
Using plywood, the factory owners converted a section of the factory into living apartments fully fitted with beds and having a kitchen and a washroom.
A deep freezer and a refrigerator were placed close to a cupboard that concealed the company’s power source.
More than 50 barrels containing chemicals labelled as poly (PPG) were packed at two entrances of the factory while three ill-fitted tables held some of the chemicals described as dangerous.
A pungent smell hang heavily in the factory but dozen employees of the company had no form of protective gadgets.
Addressing the media, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the DMCE, Mr Maxwell Tsatsu, said his station had received a tip-off about operations of the company.
“We secretly came to look at their environment and buy products and the price they gave us, when we want for other such products in the market, the prices were far lower so we knew that there was something wrong.”
“We looked at their custom declaration documents and found that they grossly undervalued their imports and when they sell the goods they don’t also collect tax so with that they could sell below the normal market price.”
“They could not provide their manufacturing permit, EPA permit, Standard Board permits; they could not produce any of them to us,” he added.
“After registering with the registrar of companies, you must have an approval from the Ghana Standards [Authority] to come and check the product and the Environmental Protection Agency also does an environmental assessment to ensure that the environment is congenial for industrial work, safety of workers, but there is nothing to show that all this has been done,” he said
Even though some of the Ghanaian workers claimed the company had been in operation for three months, the GRA official maintained that import documents indicated that the company had been working since November 2012.
“We were told they were working in Kasoa before moving to this area,” he said.
The Assistant Commissioner said not until all the company’s tax obligations were sorted out, it would remain closed.
Mr Tsatsu said the action was part of a crackdown on companies that were defying the country’s tax laws.
He,therefore, warned that the unit would come after companies that were failing their tax obligations.
Story: Seth J. Bokpe
Writer’s email: [email protected]