The Ministry of Lands and Resources has indefinitely closed down the Ghana Manganese Company Limited (GMCL) citing huge loses to the state for the period of 2010 – 2017.
The decision, according to the sector Minister, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, follows the apparent lack of transparency in the operations of some mining companies in Ghana which has been a source of “serious concern” to the Ministry.
Hence the Ministry decided on an audit of the company to ascertain the causes of the loses.
Findings from the audit were based on Fair Pricing Model utilizing best business practices, open source data as well as information obtained from verifiable business intelligence centers.
Results indicated that an additional revenue residing offshore from 2010 to 2017 with no transfer pricing audit performed prior to 2017 recorded loses of a whopping $259m.
Further, loss of dividends within the period amounted to $6.1m while additional corporate tax due was $79m.
Aside the findings of the audit report, Cheremeh added that in late 2014 and 2015, just before the sales agreement reached between Manganese Trading Limited (MTL) as the sole off-taker of the total volume of the manganese produced by GMCL, there was a manipulation of the sales in order to stockpile ore prior to adjusting the price downwards by $0.65 for every DMTU.
Calculated loss due to this price per production manipulation was conservatively estimated to be $3.6m.
The Ministry of Lands and Resources has indefinitely closed down the Ghana Manganese Company Limited (GMCL) citing huge loses to the state for the period of 2010 – 2017.
The decision, according to the sector Minister, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, follows the apparent lack of transparency in the operations of some mining companies in Ghana which has been a source of “serious concern” to the Ministry.
Hence the Ministry decided on an audit of the company to ascertain the causes of the loses.
Findings from the audit were based on Fair Pricing Model utilizing best business practices, open source data as well as information obtained from verifiable business intelligence centers.
Results indicated that an additional revenue residing offshore from 2010 to 2017 with no transfer pricing audit performed prior to 2017 recorded loses of a whopping $259m.
Further, loss of dividends within the period amounted to $6.1m while additional corporate tax due was $79m.
Aside the findings of the audit report, Cheremeh added that in late 2014 and 2015, just before the sales agreement reached between Manganese Trading Limited (MTL) as the sole off-taker of the total volume of the manganese produced by GMCL, there was a manipulation of the sales in order to stockpile ore prior to adjusting the price downwards by $0.65 for every DMTU.
Calculated loss due to this price per production manipulation was conservatively estimated to be $3.6m.
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