The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has announced that it has arrested Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, former Commissioner-General of the GRA; Isaac Crentsil, ex-Commissioner of Customs and now General Manager at Stargetic Mobilsation Limited (SML); and Christian Tetteh Sottie, former Technical Advisor and now MD/CEO of SML.
In a statement on Wednesday, June 25, the OSP said that the arrests were linked to ongoing investigations into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of contracts between the GRA and SML for revenue assurance services.
“The probe also seeks to verify SML’s claims that its services have been saving the nation significant revenues. Owusu-Amoah, Crentsil and Sottie were detained last night after failing to meet bail conditions,” the statement said.
About the SML Scandal
The SML scandal was revealed in an investigative documentary by three former reporters of The Fourth Estate, Evans Aziamor-Mensah, Adwoa Adobea-Owusu, and Manasseh Azure Awuni, after a year’s extensive investigation into the shady operations of SML.
The company had been paid over $141 million by the government by the end of 2023 for its contracts, which have allegedly broken several laws, including the PPA Act.
As of December 2023, the government had paid more than $141 million to SML through its contracts.
In 2023, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, directed that the scope of SML’s contract be expanded to cover the mining sectors and upstream petroleum sectors.
The contract, worth more than $100 million a year, was for an initial period of five years, subject to another five years’ renewal.
Under that deal, SML is entitled to a percentage of revenue from every litre of petroleum product one buys in Ghana. The company is also entitled to a fixed percentage of revenue from every barrel of oil produced in Ghana and a fixed percentage of revenue from every ounce of gold mined in Ghana.
Following the investigation by the three journalists and subsequent report by KPMG, the upstream and mining sector contracts have remained suspended. The government also cancelled the external price verification and transaction audit services at the port, which the KPMG report said were already being performed by the GRA.
About SML deal
In April 2024, the then President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, instructed the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance to renegotiate the revenue assurance contract with Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML).
