Former Finance Minister Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), and six others have been charged with 78 counts of procurement breaches and causing the state a financial loss of GH¢1.4 billion the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) at the High Court in Accra on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
Those charged include Ernest Darko Akore, former Chef de Cabinet at the Ministry of Finance; Emmanuel Kofi Nti, ex-Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA); Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, also a former GRA Commissioner General; Isaac Crentsil and Kwadwo Damoah, former Customs Division Commissioners; and Evans Adusei, CEO of SML, which is listed as the eighth accused.
The charges cover conspiracy to commit procurement fraud, causing financial loss to the state, abuse of public office for personal gain, willful oppression, and manipulation of procurement processes.
The OSP alleges the accused worked together between June 2017 and December 2024 to award contracts for transaction audits, external price verification, and measurement audits of downstream petroleum products. These contracts were allegedly influenced by patronage and false claims about SML’s capacity.
Ofori-Atta is accused of facilitating GH¢468.5 million in payments to SML in 2019 for services under a contract that lacked parliamentary or Public Procurement Authority approval.
Nti allegedly awarded contracts to SML after retiring from GRA, authorising over GH¢15 million in payments without proof of work.
According to prosecutors, the accused set up automatic payment schemes for SML regardless of performance, awarding contracts without competitive bidding or statutory approvals and falsely claiming exclusive patented technology.
The case followed a complaint to the OSP in December 2023, leading to the government suspending the contracts in January 2024 and the President directing their termination on October 31, 2025.
Prosecutors claim SML could have earned an estimated $2.8 billion over five years if the contracts had continued.
