The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has declared that, after a thorough investigation into allegations of financial irregularities and corruption connected to contracts between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), it will charge former Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta and five other former government officials by the end of November 2025.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, October 30, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng said the investigation found evidence of procurement law violations, corruption, and abuse of office involving SML-affiliated individuals, the GRA, and senior Ministry of Finance officials.
Emmanuel Kofi Nti, a former Commissioner-General of the GRA; Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, a former Commissioner-General of the GRA; Isaac Crentsil, a former Commissioner of the GRA’s Customs Division and General Manager of SML; Kwadwo Damoah, a former Commissioner of the GRA’s Customs Division and current Member of Parliament for Jaman South; and Ernest Akore, a former Chef de Cabinet to the former Minister of Finance, is among those to be charged, according to Mr. Agyebeng.
The Special Prosecutor said, “The outcome of the investigation is that the OSP will charge the following persons with various corruption and corruption-related offences before the end of November 2025.”
Mr. Agyebeng clarified that in addition, his office will pursue compensation for the state’s alleged financial losses.
“As part of the process, the OSP will seek to recover the financial loss caused to the Republic from the persons listed above,” he stated.
The OSP also disclosed that it would be recouping GH₵125 million from SML, claiming that this sum amounts to unjust enrichment that was unfairly acquired through the contested contracts.
“The OSP will recover a total amount of GH₵125 million from SML by way of disgorgement of unjust enrichment of overpayment, by the return of the benefit this amount obtained unfairly at the expense of the Republic,” Mr. Agyebeng continued.
“There was no genuine need for contracting SML for the work it purported to perform,” he said, citing the investigation’s “glaring statutory breaches, conflicts of interest, and unjustified payments” related to the SML agreements.
The GRA was also chastised by the Special Prosecutor for not disclosing all of the information regarding the contracts that SML had with its outside partners, calling this a major breach of transparency.
He went on to say that the contracts were “blighted by statutory breaches” and that SML lacked the professional ability and infrastructure necessary to perform the services for which it was contracted.
Source: newsthemegh.com