The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has responded to a challenge thrown at him by the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, to produce documents showing that the minister’s hotel, Rock City Hotel Limited, has been posting losses.

During the Friday, June 21, 2024, edition of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana program, Ablakwa shared supposed tax filings of Rick City Hotel with his co-panelist on the program, Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Andrew Egyapa Mercer, and the host of the show, Dr. Randy Abbey.

Reading out details of the document, Ablakwa stated that the records of GRA show that Bryan Abbey Acheampong’s hotel posted a loss in 2021.

“When I said that I have the filings, I have them. Here they are, and I have given you copies… On 12th March 2021, they posted returns stating they would make losses that year. Then two years later, they returned on the 9th of March 2023 and made a debit adjustment that they had issues with holding taxes amounting to GH¢20,782. And that is all for 2021. So, they themselves told the GRA that in that year they would make losses.”

The MP said that for 2022, Rock City did not file any tax returns at all. He said that Rock City rushed to file their taxes after he broke the news that shares of hotels belonging to the state-owned Social Security and National Insurance Trust were being sold to the minister's hotel.

“After I broke the news here, they rushed to the GRA the following week. So, you see here on 23rd May 2024, that they now went to fulfill our tax obligations for 2022.”

He also said that the GRA documents show that the hotel initially told the GRA that they made losses in 2022 and later went back to the authority claiming they made a profit and were charged for filing their returns late.

The MP pointed out that the fact that Rick City did not file its taxes for 2022 on time means that it would not have the tax clearance certificate required to bid for the SSNIT hotels since they are properties of the government.

He also said that for 2023, Rock City filed that it would be making losses for the year.

“For 2023, they filed on 20th April 2023, after the first quarter, that they would make losses that year. So, for last year, they said that they would make losses, they didn’t anticipate that they would make any profit. And it is here: ‘Process returns for 2023; reference number, C0006446833’.”

However, Egyapa Mercer contended that the details shared by Ablakwa do not prove that Rock City Hotel has been incurring losses.

He warned the North Tongu MP about the legal implications of sharing the hotel's tax filing with the public.

Background:

Bryan Acheampong refuted claims by Ablakwa that his hotel, Rock City Hotel Limited, posted losses but shares of profitable hotels of SSNIT are being sold to it.

He challenged Ablakwa to publish the GRA document he said he had intercepted, which shows that Rock City posted losses in 2023 and 2022.

“In 2022, Rock City did not incur losses. But he was categorical that he had intercepted documents and he gave a serial number, file number, and the name of a person. Everything he said was a lie; Rock City has not even filed their 2023 taxes; it's due at the end of June. I am daring him to bring out the documents,” he said in an interview with TV3.

Watch a video of Ablakwa's remarks below:



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