Court gives OSP more time to file disclosures in SML trial
The High Court in Accra has granted the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) additional time to file and serve further disclosures in the ongoing Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) case involving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Attah and seven others.
The order was issued by Justice Francis Aponga Achiponga at a case management conference.
So far, two witness statements have been filed in the case. At Thursday’s sitting, January 29, Mr Ofori-Attah and a former Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ernest Darko Akore, were absent, while the other accused persons were present in court.
The Principal Prosecutor at the OSP, Adelaide Kobiri Woode, told the court that the prosecution had amended the charge sheet to reflect the title of the sixth accused person, Kwadwo Damoah, to include “Hon.” She said the amended charge sheet, containing charges earlier agreed on in court, had been served on all the accused persons.
On disclosures, Ms Kobiri-Woode said the Republic had filed some witness statements with attached exhibits and served them on the accused persons, but acknowledged that the defence had been short-served. She said there were additional disclosures the prosecution intended to file, explaining that the compilation of some exhibits, which were voluminous, had delayed the process.
She further informed the court that although the matter had been fixed for a case management conference, extradition processes involving Mr Ofori-Attah and Mr Akore were still ongoing. According to her, the Attorney-General had transmitted the relevant extradition documents to the United States.
Ms Kobiri-Woode added that documents relating to the issuance of summons on Mr Ofori-Attah and Mr Akore, as earlier ordered by the court, had also been forwarded to the international desk of the Attorney-General’s Department and were being processed for service through the appropriate authorised institutions in the United States.
In view of the outstanding disclosures and the ongoing international processes, the prosecution applied for more time.
The court consequently extended the time for the Republic to file and serve all additional disclosures on or before February 26, 2026, and adjourned the case to the same date for the continuation of the case management conference.
The case relates to alleged offences arising from contracts between Strategic Mobilisation Limited and the Ghana Revenue Authority. The Office of the Special Prosecutor has charged Mr Ofori-Attah, Mr Akore and other accused persons in connection with the transactions.
In a charge sheet signed by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, and filed at the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court last year, the OSP alleged that the accused persons hatched a “criminal enterprise” to use the SML contracts to fleece the nation.
“The criminal enterprise was commenced in 2017 by the first, third, seventh and eighth accused persons, with the other accused persons joining the adventure at various times,” the charge sheet stated.
According to the OSP, “The criminal enterprise was characterised by no genuine need for contracting the eighth accused company for the obligations it purported to perform, and the contracts were secured for the eighth company through self-serving patronage and promotion by the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth accused persons based on false and unverified claims.”
The OSP further accused the suspects of engaging in prohibited acts and said they “Acted with increased emboldened impunity as they freely abused their public offices by using the offices for private benefit.”
It also alleged that the six former government officials created an avenue 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 accused persons based their actions on their false claims that the eighth accused company possessed technical expertise and capability in revenue assurance, and that the technical expertise and capability of the eighth accused person had greatly increased revenue for the republic; and further that the eighth accused company exclusively possessed the only patented and proven technological systems in the world for value chain transaction audits, external price verification and measurement audit services in the downstream petroleum, upstream petroleum and minerals sectors,” the OSP added.
