Bobo-Dioulasso: The National Anti-Fraud Coordination hosted a press conference on Thursday February 15, 2024 in Bobo-Dioulasso, focusing on cases of fraud on locally produced rice in Houet (region Hauts-Bassins).
The sleuths of the National Anti-Fraud Coordination have exposed ‘extremely harmful’ fraud practices in Bobo-Dioulasso involving locally produced rice.
For this purpose, a large quantity of rice was seized. In order to present the loot to the public, coordination officials hosted a press conference on Thursday, February 15, 2024 in the town of Sya.
According to the national anti-fraud coordinator, Dr Yves Kafando, 1,641 50-kilogram bags of rice worth 47,743,000 CFA francs were seized during the operation.
According to him, the operation consists, initially, of the accused purchasing local rice, particularly rice produced in Kénédougou, Léraba and Comoé and bagging it in previously stamped packages. to mentions of imported rice.
‘The maneuver consists precisely of misleading consumers about the o
rigin of the rice, that is to say, making people believe that it is imported rice in order to raise prices,’ underlined the national coordinator.
The second case of fraud concerns rice marked ‘sale prohibited’, intended for school canteens, that is to say rice obtained at ‘very reduced’ costs thanks to the efforts of the government, is also transferred into bags previously stamped in order to be able to sell them ‘cheerfully’ on the market.
‘To corroborate our information, one of our teams dispatched to Bama was able to actually observe the said practices which consist of the repackaging of local rice in yellow bags bearing the mention LIZO’, a mention very close to the Burmese rice brand ‘LIZA’, a suggested Yves Kafando.
This LIZO packaging has the characteristics of the LIZA brand, namely a crown and three stars, all with the intention of misleading consumers, continued Dr. Kafando.
According to him, the investigations made it possible to discover in the stock store of the owner of the merchandise 441 b
ags of 50 kg of rice intended for the school canteen, 901 empty bags of the ‘LIZO’ brand, intended for the repackaging of local rice, and 65 bags of local rice of 100 kg from Banzon, also intended to be repackaged in ‘LIZO’ bags.
‘Another team, based on our alerts, was able to intercept on the Bama-Bobo-Dioulasso axis, a truck containing 321 bags of 50 kg of ‘LIZO’ rice and 39 bags of rice intended for the school canteen,’ he added.
Asked whether this practice harms the presidential initiative, the coordinator responded in the affirmative.
For him, this practice negatively impacts the presidential initiative, because it advocates local production and consumption.
The government, through the ‘Agropastoral and Fisheries Offensive 2023-2025’, has invested in supporting producers so that locally produced rice becomes less expensive on the market.
‘Unfortunately this practice makes local rice more expensive,’ regretted the anti-fraud coordinator.
Asked why people believe that it is imported rice, when local
rice costs more, Mr. Kafando explained that ‘Local rice of 50 kg costs 23,000 CFA francs. When this rice is packaged in the ‘LIZO’ bag, it costs 24,000 F CFA. So obviously there is a fraudulent margin of 1000 CFA francs.’
According to Yves Kafando, this operation was possible thanks to the collaboration of other Burkinabè more attached to the future of the motherland rather than to ‘vile and individual’ designs.
‘We reiterate our firm commitment to maintaining pressure on fraudsters in order to reduce to its simplest expression, if not neutralize it, fraud in all its forms,’ he concluded.
Source: Burkina Information Agency