Accra (Greater Accra), 14th July 99-

Mr Victor Selormey, a Deputy Minister of Finance, announced on Tuesday that the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) Limited, has made 289.7 million dollars profit since its divestiture about five years ago.

Mr Selormey, who was responding to questions in Parliament said between 1994 and 1998, the AGC as a group, paid a total of 52.10 million dollars as corporate tax, 1.2 million dollars and 14.3 billion cedis in foreign and local currencies respectively, as dividend tax.

On whether the floatation of AGC has benefited the country, Mr Selormey replied in the affirmative, saying "we have avoided diminishing value by divesting the company.

He said it was impossible to mention specific projects that the divestiture receipts had been used for, but indicated that proceeds from the divestiture had supported the budget.

Asked whether the Minister of Finance's dual position as leader of government's economic management team and also chairman of the AGC Board of Directors is not a source of conflict of interest, Mr Selormey said he did not think so.

He said, "the question of interest is subjective and I do not see the cause for this suspicion".

To a suggestion that the remuneration of the Board Members of the AGC has adversely affected the financial position of the company, the Deputy Minister, who could not tell how much members earn, said he did not think it was huge.

He said, however, that remuneration of board members of companies has not been known to cripple the business.

On whether all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have complied with Cabinet's directive that they should submit a complete list of their value books to the Controller and Accountant-General (CAG), Mr Selormey said no MDA has so far done so.

He said the Ministry is, however, aware that some MDAs have furnished the CAG with a partial list.

The Ministry, he said, is studying a report from the Auditor-General on the audited value books currently in use by all MDAs, for the necessary action to be taken.

Asked what action is being taken against MDAs, which have defaulted in submitting the list of value books, Mr Selormey said before the Cabinet's directive, the then sector Minister, had authorised some MDAs to print their own value books.

In the circumstance, he said, there is no reason for any MDA to be penalised since the Minister acted within his powers.

The Deputy Minister said the Auditor-General has been directed to take inventory of value books in the system and it is only after the exercise that sanctions would be applied to any MDA, which fails to submit the list of value books.

Mr Selormey announced that there is an on-going review of tariffs and said since the exercise, duty on imported items has been progressively lowered from 65 per cent to the current 25 per cent, adding "this will further be reduced to 20 per cent in due course''.

Asked about the duty on imported kerosene lantern, he said the rate is 25 per cent, noting that this is rather on the high side.

He said under the review exercise, the ministry was looking at group of items, including kerosene lantern and candle, with the view to giving them appropriate rates to reflect the current realities.

To a suggestion that a zero-rated duty be imposed on kerosene lantern, since it is widely used in the rural communities, Mr Selormey replied that the suggestion would be considered in the review.

GRi?/