Kissi Agyebeng (M) accuses Ken Ofori-Atta (L) and Emmanuel Kofi Nti (R) of masterminding SML deal
The botched revenue assurance contract that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) is at the heart of the corruption allegations against former Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, whose outfit, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, is investigating Ken Ofori-Atta, gave details of the genesis of SML, which he claimed was basically a vehicle for using “public office for his private benefit,” allegedly championed by the former finance minister.
Kissi Agyebeng said that investigations into the SML contract showed that the original name of the company was Strategic Mobilisation Enhancement Limited (SMEL), which was set up on February 14, 2017, just three weeks after Ofori-Atta was made finance minister, and not long after the New Patriotic Party won the 2016 presidential election.
He said that the company, which was incorporated by one Evans Adusei, was first presented to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) for a sole-source contract as “a service provider for enhanced classification, valuation, and risk management platform in the customs set-up.”
He asserted that even though Ken Ofori-Atta was not named in the books of SMEL, he was the brain behind the outfit.
“These events – the assumption of office by Mr Ofori-Atta, the incorporation of SMEL by Mr Adusei, and the application for sole-sourcing of SMEL by Mr Nti – seemed unrelated at first glance. However, a closer look at subsequent events from June 2017 to 14 February 2024, when Mr Ofori-Atta’s tenure ended, shows a tightly-knit and non-coincidental association of the prior identified events as the precursors of a masterful and mischievously crafted scheme designed by Mr Ofori-Atta, immediately upon assumption of office and throughout his tenure, as the chief promoter, patron, and sponsor of the company and the previously unseen power that unlawfully force-fed the company into the revenue assurance drive of GRA through a series of reckless decision-making and management and flagrant violation of statute through the use of public office for profit contrary to section 179C of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and by directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of procurement contracts to the company contrary to section 92(2)(b) of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), with the pliant and avaricious unquestioning compliance of two successive GRA Commissioner-Generals,” the Special Prosecutor said.
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He also said that the investigation showed how the PPA rejected two SMEL sole-source contract applications presented by the then Commissioner-General of GRA, Emmanuel Kofi Nti, because the company did not have the needed competencies for the works stipulated in the contract.
He said that after the rejections, the PPA had rejected two sole-sourced contracts offered to SMEL, and the company’s name was changed to Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) on November 22, 2017.
After the name change, the Ministry of Finance and the GRA went on to sign a sole-sourced contract with SML, without PPA approval.
“Seven months after the name change, GRA and MoF commenced the unlawful award to SML of a string of specialised revenue assurance public procurement contracts running into late 2023 – in respect of transaction audit and external price verification, downstream petroleum, upstream petroleum, and the minerals sector,” he said.
Kissi Agyebeng said that his office’s investigation also found that the then Commissioner-General of GRA even signed contracts related to the SML deal after he had retired.
“This wanton illegality was perpetrated by the public official promoters, sponsors, and patrons of SML by ensuring that their co-conspirator, Mr Nti, signed the contracts before clearing his desk at GRA although he was no longer the Commissioner-General of GRA on 3 October 2019 – as they were unsure of whether the newly installed Reverend Minister head of GRA would team-play and sign the contracts,” he said.
BAI/AE
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Watch the promo to GhanaWeb’s latest documentary, which uncovers the evolution of ‘kayamata,’ an exploitative practice fueled by love charms and manipulation, titled, “The Dark Side of Kayamata,’ below:
