SML scandal: Ken Ofori-Atta and 7 others charged with 78 counts for causing financial loss to the state

Former Finance Minister Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta and seven others have been charged with 78 counts of corruption and corruption-related offenses by the state. They are accused of creating a multi-year scheme to illegally obtain lucrative government contracts for Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML).

The Republic v. Kenneth Ofori-Atta and 7 Others, a case filed with the High Court’s Criminal Division, details what prosecutors characterize as a coordinated “criminal enterprise” involving executives of SML and senior officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The charge sheet alleges that Mr. Ofori-Atta (A1), his former Chef de Cabinet Ernest Darko Akore (A2), former GRA Commissioner-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), his successor Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), former Customs Division Commissioners Isaac Crentsil (A5) and Kwadwo Damoah (A6), and SML’s Chief Executive and beneficial owner Evans Adusei (A8).

Despite “no genuine need” for the services and without the required statutory approvals from Parliament and the Public Procurement Authority, prosecutors claim that the alleged scheme, which started in 2017, involved obtaining a number of contracts for transaction audits, external price verification, petroleum sector measurement audits, upstream petroleum audits, and minerals audit services.

The accused public officials, according to the state, “freely abused their offices for private benefit,” relied on “false and unverified claims” to support the contracts, and made sure payments to SML continued “on automatic mode” in the absence of a financial management system to confirm performance.

According to investigators, the state lost GH¢1.436 billion as a result of these actions. Prosecutors further assert that the accused planned to pay SML an additional US$2.8 billion over a five-year period without the necessary parliamentary approval, had the plan not been disrupted by a petition to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in December 2023 and subsequent government interventions.

According to the charge document, the accused made false claims that SML had patented technology and special technological know-how that could greatly increase government revenue in the mining and petroleum industries.

The case comes after over two years of OSP investigations, which led to the contracts’ temporary suspension in January 2024 and the president’s order to terminate them in October 2025.

The company and all eight of the accused have now been legally charged, and they are scheduled to appear before the High Court as the proceedings get underway.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com