Court issues warrant for arrest of Ghana Post MD
The Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the Managing Director of Ghana Post Company Limited, Mr Abdul Rafiu Abdulai, and two other officials of the company for defaulting in the payment of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions for the employees of the company.
The total indebtedness of Ghana Post Company Limited to SSNIT amounts to GH¢1,100,427.81.
By defaulting in the payment of SSNIT contributions, the company is said to have contravened the National Pension Act of 2008, Act 766, which empowers SSNIT to institute criminal charges against it.
Unhappy about the refusal of Mr Abdulai, Mr Winfred B.K. Safo, the Deputy Managing Director, and Mr Ruben Gabianu, the company’s Head of Finance, to either appear before it in person or be represented by others, the court, presided over by Ms Georgina Mensah-Datsa, issued the warrant for their arrest.
The facts of the case as presented by the prosecutor, Mr Joseph Nunoo are that, an inspection conducted by SSNIT into the pay books of Ghana Post in respect of the period covering August, 2006 to December, 2008 revealed unpaid social security contributions totalling GH¢2,796605.17.
But the company managed to pay GH¢1,705,377.29 over a period of 18 months leaving a balance of GH¢1,091,277.28.
He said a letter dated July 16, 2010 from Ghana Post petitioned the Director General of the Trust for a penalty waiver, in response to which the Trust waived 50 per cent of the penalty.
To ensure that the company met its obligations, the Trust in a letter dated November 8, 2010 informed the company to meet the manager of the Accra Central branch to pay the 50 per cent balance of GH¢545,638.94 without delay but the meeting did not come off.
However, at another meeting, which was attended by Mr Safo and Mr Gabianu, SSNIT informed them that it stood by its decision to waive only 50 per cent of the outstanding arrears hence the two officials were given the opportunity to draft a proposal on the payment of the outstanding penalty and present it to the Trust.
“Unfortunately, they failed to make their presentation. Persistent visits and reminders by the prosecutor to get the arrears settled proved futile. A follow-up by the Branch Manager also yielded no results,” Mr Nunoo stated.
Following the failure of the company to pay the penalty balance and also pay its current contributions, its accounts was updated for the period January, 2009 and August, 2011 and this revealed an unpaid contribution of GH¢435,705.32 and a penalty of GH¢664,772.29 bringing the total indebtedness to GH¢1,100,427.81.
Source: Daily Graphic