Ghana Manganese Company shut down over $300m loss of revenue
2019-08-08 10:47:29 [Print]
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister has ordered the shutdown of the Ghana Manganese Company Limited until further notice effective Monday, August 5.
Kweku Asoma Cheremeh said the closure is in response to the company's inability to fulfill its financial obligations which has resulted in over $300 million loss of revenue to the state.
"We are going to engage them to find an amicable solution to the infraction that they have committed. If indeed they do not have any good explanation for the happenings, then we will arraign them before court," he said.
He added that government will also consider an outright take over the company or sell the company's assets to defray the debt if it becomes necessary to do so.
Sometime in January, the Ghana Manganese Company Limited was directed to halt its mining operations to enable the state to undertake a thorough financial audit of its operations. Subsequently, the Ministry agreed with the company that the audit could be carried out whiles mining operations are ongoing.
After the preliminary audit has been completed it came to light that the state is incurring huge losses through the operation of the company. It came to the fore that the company failed to pay additional royalty ($12 . 8 million), additional corporate taxes ($79 million) and a loss of dividends declared ($6 . 1 million) . There was also a loss of $259 million additional revenue residing offshore from 2010 to 2017 as there was no transfer pricing audit performed prior to 2017.
Kweku Asoma Cheremeh said the closure is in response to the company's inability to fulfill its financial obligations which has resulted in over $300 million loss of revenue to the state.
"We are going to engage them to find an amicable solution to the infraction that they have committed. If indeed they do not have any good explanation for the happenings, then we will arraign them before court," he said.
He added that government will also consider an outright take over the company or sell the company's assets to defray the debt if it becomes necessary to do so.
Sometime in January, the Ghana Manganese Company Limited was directed to halt its mining operations to enable the state to undertake a thorough financial audit of its operations. Subsequently, the Ministry agreed with the company that the audit could be carried out whiles mining operations are ongoing.
After the preliminary audit has been completed it came to light that the state is incurring huge losses through the operation of the company. It came to the fore that the company failed to pay additional royalty ($12 . 8 million), additional corporate taxes ($79 million) and a loss of dividends declared ($6 . 1 million) . There was also a loss of $259 million additional revenue residing offshore from 2010 to 2017 as there was no transfer pricing audit performed prior to 2017.