Ghana loses 200 million dollars of tax revenue to smuggling of petroleum products and other nefarious activities in the petroleum sector every year.

Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority Alhassan Tampuli who described these nefarious activities as “lucrative”, mentioned Takoradi port, Tema main Port, Prampram, Aflao and the eastern coastline as the unapproved offshore routes for the smuggling.

“These nefarious activities of the petroleum service providers and some that are not even service providers, led to the country losing colossal 200 million dollars per annum of tax revenue,” he said.

Speaking at the at this year’s Ghana international petroleum conference in Accra Wednesday, he said these activities are also causing the country to lose about 12 million dollars from the unified petroleum price fund annually.

Mr Tampuli indicated that some elements in the petroleum industry have made it their business to engage in nefarious activities which eventually leaves the country poorer.

He expressed concerns about smuggling of subsidised products such as premix, marine gas and gasoline, as well as what he termed fraudulent freight claims from some transporters and siphoning of LPG from bulk vehicles into surface tanks.

The Chief Executive revealed poor quality products from some neighbouring countries are smuggled by road through unapproved entry points between Ghana and Togo and eventually end up at private tank yards, mining companies and other retail outlets.

Source: 3news.com