The Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng, has announced that he will press charges against several individuals implicated in the controversial SML revenue assurance contracts.
According to Kissi Agyebeng, he will press charges against the individual implicated in the controversial revenue assurance contracts between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) by the end of November 2025.
The Special Prosecutor named, former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, former Commissioner-Generals of the GRA — Rev Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and Emmanuel Kofi Nti, also GRA officials, Isaac Crentsil, and Kwadwo Damoa. A former member of the Finance Ministry, Ernest Akore, are expected to be charged before the end of November 2025.
The OSP decision comes after months of investigations uncovering alleged acts of corruption, abuse of office, and breaches of procurement laws in the award and execution of the SML-GRA contracts.
Kissi Agyebeng detailed that the evidence gathered points to criminal conduct on the part of some officials.
The OSP is expected to formally announce the specific charges and commence legal proceedings in the coming days.
Kissi Agyebeng also declared the controversial revenue assurance contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and SML (Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited) as needless.
According to Kissi Agyebeng, the OSP comprehensive investigation concluded there was “no genuine need” for the contract.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, October 30, revealed, “There was no genuine need for contracting SML for the obligations it’s purported to perform”.
He stressed were “secured for SML through self-serving official patronage, sponsorship [and] promotion based on false and unverified claims.”
The OSP’s investigation painted a picture of non-compliance with Ghana’s public financial laws, revealing that the SML contracts were attended by egregious statutory breaches, adding that“mandatory prior approvals were wantonly disregarded by relevant officials who acted with increased and emboldened impunity.”
The most alarming finding revolved around the mechanism for payments made to SML. The probe uncovered a substantial failure in the public financial management system responsible for oversight and accountability.
The Special Prosecutor discovered “there was no established financial management system of monitoring and verification to ensure that the Republic was obtaining the value for the money it was paying to SML.”
“Crucially, the investigation concluded that the payments to SML were set on an “automatic mode, detached from actual performance”, a scenario which, according to the OSP, directly resulted in “causing financial loss to the public”.
This suggests a system where public funds were disbursed based on a calendar schedule rather than verified results or deliverables achieved by SML, indicating a severe failure in contract management and oversight within the GRA and the Ministry of Finance”.
Furthermore, Kissi Agyebeng has named former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta as the chief patron, supporter, and promoter of the SML deal.
In a detailed press briefing, Kissi Agyebeng revealed that the SML (Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited), which aimed to provide revenue assurance services in the petroleum, mining, and liquid bulk distribution (LBD) sectors, lacked a legitimate operational requirement.
According to Kissi Agyabeng, both Ofori-Atta and SML management were criminally minded in their operations.