Gov’t assures OMC’s of dealing with illegal fuel trade

Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of power, Hon. William Owuraku Aidoo has assured members of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (OAMC) of government’s commitment to dealing with the proliferation of black market trade in the petroleum downstream sector.

According to him, government is concerned about the matter due, to the huge revenues being lost as a result of the illegal activities by some unscrupulous persons in the country.

He said government through the Ministry of Energy is taking steps to stop the practice.

“We’re taking steps as a Ministry to deal with the situation because the country lost almost GHC1million in 2016 in revenue due to the illegal fuel dealings,” he stated.

The Deputy Energy Minister’s assurance follows threat by the Association of Oil Marketing Companies that they would be compelled to lay off over 4,000 workers if government fails to stop the illegal sale of petroleum products in the country.

The Association of Oil Marketing Companies at a press conference addressed by its CEO, Kwaku Agyeman-Duah noted that, the illegal trade which has been perpetrated for over a year now has also led to a massive drop in profits aside the difficulty in repaying debts owed banks.

He touched on the means adopted by the illegal fuel dealers, which included illegal diversion of export products to the domestic market, illegal diversion of non-taxed industrial products for sale as petrol as well as the dangerous practice of Tanker-to-Tanker transfer of the illegal products.

He also warned that the development if unchecked, could serve as a conduit for money laundering and terrorism financing.

“It is very worrying in the sense that government is losing revenue and we are also losing our business, it is also a seed where if not properly checked, it becomes a place where we have a source of funding for terrorism since it is a cheap source of money which could also trigger money laundering,” he said.

But speaking on Oman FM’s National Agenda on, Wednesday Hon. William Owuraku Aidoo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Afigya Kwabre South in the Ashanti Region intimated that government shares the concerns of the Oil Marketing Companies and thus working hard to deal with the current situation.

“If the oil marketing companies are lamenting that their businesses are collapsing they are right. But they should be rest assured that we are working hard to stop the illegal activities of oil dealers,” he stressed.

He said government has introduced a number of measures including fixing tracking devices on all oil tankers to check these illegal dealings.

Hon. Owuraku Aidoo stressed that, government is more than determined to deal with the situation, stating that the huge revenues being lost, if prevented could be used to finance the School Feeding Programme and Free Senior High School Policy.

Story By: Michael Creg Afful

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