The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has arrested officials of three China Mall outlets over suspected tax evasion involving the use of unauthorised invoicing platforms.
According to reports, the GRA arrested officials of three China Mall outlets at Ashaiman, Weija and Nsawam following intelligence-led investigations and mystery shopping exercises.
During the mystery shopping, some sales transactions were not captured on the Authority’s approved Electronic VAT (E-VAT) system.
Head of GRA’s Revenue Protection Unit, Wisdom Kofi Xetor, said investigations were underway to establish the extent of possible tax evasion.
Wisdom Kofi Xetor revealed that the Authority is pushing for prosecution and prison sentences of up to five years where deliberate breaches are established.
Speaking to the media after the operation, Head of GRA’s Revenue Protection Unit stated, “We have several China Mall outlets across the country. We visited the one in Ashaiman and conducted a mystery shopping exercise. We made purchases and went through the transactions. After that, we verified whether the transactions had been captured on our system, and we discovered that some of them had not been reflected.
“This means those transactions had been diverted. Even the invoices issued did not conform to our approved invoicing system. Ashaiman, Weija and Nsawam are the three areas we visited today,” he said.
The development comes at a time when the Ghana Union of Traders’ Associations (GUTA) has cried out over the growing dominance of Chinese-owned shopping malls in Ghana’s retail sector.
According to the association, Chinese malls now control an estimated 60 per cent of the retail market, leaving Ghanaian traders struggling to compete and prompting calls for government intervention.
GUTA President Clement Boateng said the development was particularly worrying because it was happening at a time when improvements in the broader economic environment were expected to create better conditions for traders.
He warned that the rapid expansion of Chinese malls is taking a significant share of their market and threatening the survival of local businesses.
Clement Boateng further quizzed why the government is allowing Chinese shopping malls to capture Ghana’s local market, leaving traders to struggle.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Thursday, November 5, Clement Boateng acknowledged that key economic indicators were showing positive signs but argued that the growing dominance of Chinese shopping malls was undermining the gains local businesses should be making.
“If you all look at the microeconomic indices, one will say that they are all pointing to a very positive direction and definitely supposed to have a bearing on whatever activities that, as traders, we perform,” Clement Boateng said.
However, Clement Boateng said the increasing number of Chinese-owned malls was taking a significant portion of the market and making competition difficult for domestic traders.
“These Chinese shopping malls are springing up, and these shopping malls are taking about 60 per cent of our market share, and we think it is having a very negative impact as far as local businesses are concerned,” he added.
The GUTA president therefore urged the relevant authorities to take a closer look at the operations of the malls and examine their impact on Ghanaian businesses.
However, beyond the competition they pose, the GUTA president also expressed concern that profits generated by the foreign-owned businesses could be transferred outside the country rather than being retained within the local economy.
“These Chinese malls will repatriate their profits away. But if businesses, local businesses are doing well, definitely all the monies will remain here,” he said.
The GUTA president’s comments reflect GUTA’s growing concerns about the competitive challenges confronting local traders as Chinese-owned retail outlets continue to expand across the country.
GUTA wants the authorities to pay closer attention to the trend and its implications for Ghanaian-owned businesses, although Mr Boateng did not specify the regulatory interventions he believes should be introduced.
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