Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has denied any interference by the Vice President John Dramani Mahama, in its decision to lift the ban on Armajaro (GH) Ltd., which was banned along with two other cocoa buying companies, for their involvement in alleged smuggling of cocoa to neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire. There were reports in the British media in October about how the Vice President was lobbied by a British minister to get a reprieve for Armajaro (GH) Ltd. The company was banned along with the others after investigative reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas uncovered the smuggling syndicate. In a press release issued in Accra, Cocobod said the decision to lift the ban was not influenced by the Vice President as has been speculated by various media. The release stated that the decision to lift the ban was taken after various issues were considered. The statement said the three companies adhered to the ban and went on to organise programmes to conscientise their staff on the ills of smuggling. The press release said “management further noted that the continuous existence of the ban would negatively affect the companies’ staff who operated in districts that were not involved in the perpetration of the act. It was further noted that the ban had adversely affected the provision of communal projects initiated by some of these companies in districts where the incident did not take place.” The information pointed out that the board of directors of COCOBOD finally “directed that the ban placed on the three companies from operating in the Western Corridor of Ghana be lifted in all the areas except the districts where the video footage captured the involvement of their agents.” Read the full press release below.