The Ghanaian press on Wednesday focuses on the deployment of first sniffer dogs at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra as part of the drive to boost revenue collection.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the 11 dogs have been trained to detect hidden currencies that are not easily detectable by installed scanners in the luggage of passengers.
The second in command at the Customs K9 Unit at the KIA, Mr. Edward Kumi, told the newspaper that the deployment of sniffer dogs was necessitated by the detection of the change of strategy by some criminals, who conceal huge sums of currencies in their luggage.
He explained that all passengers are permitted to carry an amount of money not exceeding $10,000, however, some passengers had in the past hidden some amounts in their luggage, thereby evading taxes.
“The challenge was that the installed scanners at both departure and arrival sections of the Terminal 3 (KIA) are unable to detect currencies hidden in the luggage. The dogs are specially trained to sniff bags and detect currencies. When they make an indication that a passenger has currencies, we the officials search through the bag for anything there,” he stated.
The Daily Graphic, on the other hand, said the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), the main regulators of the accounting profession in the country, has fined four auditing forms GH¢2.2 million ($423,076.92) for non-compliance to audit standards.
A statement signed by the President of ICAG, Prof. Kwame Adom-Frimpong, said that the companies were Pennell Kerr Forster (KPF) Chartered Accountants; J Mills Lamptey & Co.; Morrison & Associates; and Deloitte & Touce.
DAP/GIK/APA