SML scandal: Special Prosecutor files witness statements as Ofori-Atta extradition case progresses
The Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebng, has filed two witness statements in the case in which former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and others are charged with allegedly causing a financial loss of more than GH¢1.4 billion in the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) contract saga.
In court today, February 26, the SP told the trial High Court that efforts were underway to file the remaining documents he would rely on to prove his case against the accused persons.
Court updated on service of charges
The SP provided the court with an update on attempts to serve the former Finance Minister and Ernest Darko Akore — an aide to Ofori-Atta during his tenure — with the charge sheet, noting that both are currently outside the country.
Regarding Ofori-Atta, he said: “Since the former minister’s apprehension by the United States authorities on January 6, 2026, he is in custody,” adding that the first proceedings against him concern an immigration violation which commenced in January.
He further informed the court that a second set of proceedings commenced this week in relation to the extradition request.
The SP assured the court that his office would provide an update on the presence of the accused persons at the next adjourned date. The case has been adjourned to March 26, 2026.
Profile of the accused
Among the accused are Col. Kwadwo Damoah (Retd), a former Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Member of Parliament for Jaman South.
Other accused persons include Emmanuel Kofi Nti and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, both former Commissioner-Generals of the GRA, Isaac Crentsil, former Commissioner of the Customs Division of the GRA, Evans Adusei, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SML, and SML itself.
They face 75 counts, including causing financial loss to the state, using public office for profit, willful oppression, directly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage, and entering into agreements that bind the government financially for more than one year without parliamentary authorisation.
All accused persons have pleaded not guilty and have since been admitted to bail.
The case arose from a revenue assurance contract awarded to SML by the previous government, which later became controversial and was eventually cancelled following a directive by President John Dramani Mahama.
The case has also drawn public attention due to the extradition efforts involving Ofori-Atta, whom the OSP has accused of “running from justice,” although the former Finance Minister maintains he is in the USA for medical treatment and insists he has “nothing to hide.”
Allegations detailed in charge sheet
In a charge sheet signed by the Special Prosecutor and filed at the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court, the OSP alleged that the accused persons hatched a “criminal enterprise” to use the SML contract to fleece the nation.
He stated: “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 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 accused persons of engaging in prohibited acts and “acted with increased emboldened impunity as they freely abused their public offices by using the offices for private benefit.”
He added that the six former government officials created opportunities 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.
