By Tony Yayo
The government of Sierra Leone has terminated the contract of a Ghanaian company, Africa Links Inspection Company (ALIC), for failing to comply with the terms and conditions of an agreement between the two. This information was disclosed to this press by a senior officer at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Abraham Sesay Jones.
According to him, the said contract was signed in 2012 with the Ghanaian company to build, set up and operate a single window and end-to-end system at various customs border posts across the country. He added that, sincethe award of the contract, nothing tangible has been done by the company.
He continued that a financial audit report done by the Ministry of Finance revealed that Africa Link Inspection Company has been taking part in a huge corruption syndicate to the extent that the government of Sierra Leone has to freeze its account. He also noted that the company was not able to set up the electronic system, which was supposed to have trade net messaging software that allows end-to-end users, customs declarants and MDAs to exchange data to and from the system.
According to the trade officer, the company’s tax liability with the NRA is around forty five billion leones and that there are lots of other abnormalities in their account books.
He called on the necessary security institutions to carry out a full investigation into this matter, so that the company will be able to repay all its debts to the State.