Citi Business News has learnt mining company Prestea Sankofa Limited in 2012 and 2013 failed to pay mineral royalties to Ghana estimated at 6.6 million cedis.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LgOeozZo2F2UfiehWzqzvF4ps1pchk3f”]This was contained in the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHIETI) report on the mining sector for 2012 and 2013.
According to the GHIETI report, Prestea Sankofa in 2012 /2013 generated 133, 595,760 cedis in revenue after producing 44, 090 ounces of gold in those two years.
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) owns 90% stake in the company while the Government of Ghana owns the remaining 10%.
In 2012, the company produced 21, 237 ounces of gold accounting for total revenue of 64,789,333 cedis.
Royalty payable to the state for the 2012 revenue was 3, 239, 66.62 cedis.
Additionally, 2013 production was 22,853 ounces of gold accounting for 31,760,747.60 dollars or 68,806,427 in total revenue for the year.
Royalty payable on the 2013 revenue was 3,440,321.85.
Meanwhile Prestea Sankofa limited is reported to have paid 1,447,083.39 cedis in outstanding royalty arrears for 2011.
The outstanding 2011 arrears were paid in two tranches, 1,037,988.39 cedis was paid to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in November 2012 and 409,095 cedis paid in 2013.
According to Messrs Boas and Associates, the company contracted to put together the GHIETI report by the Ministry of Finance, the GRA must investigate and retrieve the outstanding amounts due the state.
In an interview with Citi Business News a senior consultant with Messrs Boas and Associates, Kojo Asafo-Aidoo said,” the law says that within three months you have to pay the royalties and it must not go beyond the ensuing month …if these people have waited for two years without any payment of royalty, …the longer it lingers on the more penalties they have to pay”.
Speaking on the sidelines of a media forum organized by the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) at the Elmina Beach resort in the Central region, Mr. Asafo-Aidoo said GRA was expected to retrieve the money in the shortest possible time.
The Executive Director of Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC) Dr Steve Manteau said “it is a failure on the part of our revenue collection agencies (GRA) , if this information has come to our attention I expect that the Ghana Revenue Authority will follow suit to collect whatever is owed the state.”
–
By: Rabiu Alhassan/citifmonline.com/Ghana
