The Office of Special Prosecutor has charged all eight accused persons at the Criminal Division of the High Court.
Accused Persons
Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1) was the Minister of Finance at all material times in relation to him.
Ernest Darko Akore (A2) was the Chef de Cabinet of Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1) in his capacity as the Minister of Finance at all material times in relation to him.
Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3) was the Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority at all material times in relation to him.
Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4) was the Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority at all material times in relation to him. Isaac Crentsil (A5) was the Commissioner of the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority at all material times in relation to him.
Kwadwo Damoah (A6) was the Commissioner of the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority at all material times in relation to him. Evans Adusei (A7) is the Chief Executive, beneficial owner, and controlling mind of SML (A8).
SML (A8) is a company registered in Ghana (formerly known as Strategic Mobilisation Enhancement Limited).
Details of the case
The Accused Persons conspired to set up and did perform acts in furtherance of the conspiracy to set up a criminal enterprise of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain unfair advantage for SML (A8) in the award of procurement contracts for transaction audit services, external price verification services, measurement audit of downstream petroleum products, upstream petroleum audit services, and minerals audit services purportedly by the Government of Ghana, acting through the Ministry of Finance and Ghana Revenue Authority.
The criminal enterprise was commenced in 2017 by Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), Evans Adusei (A7), and SML (A8), with the other Accused Persons joining the adventure at various times. The criminal enterprise was characterised by no genuine need for contracting SML (A8) for the obligations it purported to perform, and the contracts were secured for SML (A8) through self-serving patronage, sponsorship, and promotion by the Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1), Ernest Darko Akore (A2), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), Isaac Crentsil (A5), and Kwadwo Damoah (A6) based on false and unverified claims.
Also, the contracts were attended by the commission of egregious prohibited acts as mandatory statutory prior approvals by Parliament, and the Procurement Authority were wantonly disregarded by Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), Isaac Crentsil (A5), and Kwadwo Damoah (A6) who acted with increased emboldened impunity as they freely abused their public offices by using the offices for private benefit.
Further, Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), Isaac Crentsil (A5), and Kwadwo Damoah (A6) ensured that there was no established financial management system of monitoring and verification to assure that the Republic was obtaining the value for the money it was paying to SML (8), and the channels of payments of public funds to SML (8) were set on automatic mode by Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), Isaac Crentsil (A5), and Kwadwo Damoah (A6) detached from actual performance and based on false and unverified claims in wilful oppressive injury to the public.
The actions of Kenneth Ofori-Atta (A1), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4), Isaac Crentsil (A5), and Kwadwo Damoah (A6) created the opportunity for SML (A8) 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 (GHC1,436,249,828.53).
And had they not been halted by the actions of three petitioners who lodged a complaint with the Office of the Special Prosecutor in December 2023 against the criminal enterprise; corruption and corruption-related investigations conducted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor between 20 December 2023 and 3 October 2025; Government intervention of temporarily suspending performance of the purported services in early January 2024; and a directive by the President of the Republic on 31 October 2025 for the termination of all the public contracts awarded to SML (A8) by the Ministry of Finance and Ghana Revenue Authority – the Accused Persons also intended that a further estimated Two Billion Seven Hundred and Ninety-Nine Million Six Hundred and Four Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-Four United States Dollars Seventy-One Cents (US$2,799,604,864.71) be paid to SML (A8) for a period of five(5) years without the mandatory statutory prior authorisation by Parliament.
The Accused Persons based their actions on their false claims that SML (A8) possessed technical expertise and capability in revenue assurance, and that the technical expertise and capability of SML (A8) had greatly increased revenue for the Republic; and further that SML (A8) exclusively possessed the only patented and proven technology 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.
Based on the above, the Accused Persons have been charged before the Criminal Division of the High Court.
