The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has revealed that contracts awarded to Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance were obtained through self-serving official favoritism rather than any genuine operational requirement.
This disclosure was made in the OSP’s 2025 Mid-Year Report, signed by Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng, after investigations into SML’s engagement for revenue assurance services in the downstream petroleum sector, upstream petroleum production, and the minerals and metals value chain.
The report indicated that the probe found no lawful justification for contracting SML to carry out the functions it claimed to provide.
According to the findings, the contracts were advanced and secured through official endorsement based on fabricated and unverified claims about SML’s technical competence and performance.
“The SML contracts were attended by egregious statutory breaches as mandatory prior approvals were wantonly disregarded by relevant officials who acted with increased emboldened impunity,” the report stated.
The investigation further revealed the absence of any credible financial oversight or verification system to guarantee value for money.
Payments to SML, the report noted, were made automatically and not linked to actual output, a situation that caused significant financial loss to the state.
The OSP named former Finance Minister Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta; his former Chief of Staff, Ernest Darko Akore; former GRA Commissioners-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah; former Customs Commissioner Isaac Crentsil; former Customs Commissioner and Jaman South MP, Col. (rtd) Kwadwo Damoah; and SML’s Chief Executive and beneficial owner, Evans Adusei, as individuals who colluded to manipulate the procurement process to secure undue advantage for SML.
The report said the group collectively set up what it described as a criminal scheme designed to distort procurement procedures for transaction audit services, external price verification, and measurement audits in the petroleum and minerals sectors, supposedly on behalf of the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance and the GRA.
“The actions of these persons created the opportunity for SML to largely pretend to perform the services under the various contracts – leading to immense financial loss to the Republic of about One Billion Four Hundred and Thirty-Six Million Two Hundred and Forty-Nine Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-Eight Cedis Fifty-Three Pesewas (GH₵1,436,249,828.53),” the OSP said.
Investigators also dismissed claims used to defend the contracts, including assertions that SML had unique technical expertise or patented technology capable of significantly enhancing revenue assurance. The report described these claims as deceptive and inaccurate.
On October 31, 2025, after the investigation’s findings were presented, the President ordered the immediate termination of all public procurement contracts awarded to SML by the GRA and the Ministry of Finance.
According to the OSP, this intervention saved the Republic an estimated GH¢5.73 billion.
“The accused in the SML case deliberately sought to deprive the Republic of a further Two Billion Seven Hundred and Ninety-Nine Million Six Hundred and Four Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-Four United States Dollars Seventy-One Cents (US$ 2,799,604,864.71),” the OSP added.
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