The Forestry Commission has interdicted some members of its staff for alleged acts of malfeasance in relation to invoicing on timber consignments, a release has said.
Responding to some publications in Ghanaian media suggesting that the affected officials had been interdicted over 623 Ghana cedi revenue raised for the commission, the FC said the action was rather part of efforts to address “widespread reported cases of collusion between staff of the commission and some timber cartels.”
It explained that there had been reports of officials colluding with cartels involved in the processing and transportation of illegally harvested timber products.
“They issue official documents to cover such timber products and grossly under-invoice them,” according to the release.
Meanwhile, according to the release, the Chief Executive of the commission had placed a moratorium on the auction of confiscated lumber and other wood products, ordering that all confiscated wood and lumber, together with the trucks conveying them be deposited at designated regional depots.
On 29th October, according to the release, the national timber monitoring task force intercepted a truckload of 3,026 pieces of lumber with official value of 76,650 Ghana cedis, at the Techimantia checkpoint.
It said the said consignment had purportedly been auctioned by Mim TIDD’s office and was on its way to Garu in the Upper East Region.
“The invoice and accompanying receipts had been issued to cover 3,026 pieces of lumber in the truck with a face value of 25,000 cedis,” according to the release.
Out of the total number of lumber, the release said there were also 800 pieces that had different dimensions than what were indicated on accompanying documents.
“Upon receiving the report, management determined that some professional misconduct had been committed. Therefore, in line with the commission’s disciplinary procedures, the Chief Executive of the commission directed the director of human resources to interdict the officers involved to pave the way for full-scale investigations,” the statement added.