OSP alleges high-level patronage in SML contracts

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has accused former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of orchestrating a “masterful and mischievously crafted scheme” to unlawfully insert Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) into Ghana’s revenue assurance system.

In a detailed account presented to the media on Thursday, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng said the OSP’s investigation established that the SML contracts “were secured through self-serving official patronage” and riddled with statutory breaches.

He said the company, originally registered as Strategic Mobilisation Entrepreneurship Limited (SMEL) in February 2017—just weeks after Ofori-Atta assumed office—had no proven experience in revenue assurance but was aggressively promoted by senior officials at the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The OSP found that despite multiple rejections from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) over lack of capacity, SML was eventually awarded contracts running into billions of cedis without mandatory approvals.

Agyebeng described the arrangement as “a reckless and flagrant violation of statute”, claiming that GRA and the Ministry of Finance enabled payments to SML “on automatic mode detached from actual performance”, causing financial loss to the state.

He added that Ofori-Atta’s “direct and indirect influence” breached both the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).

By December 2024, SML had received over GH₵1.4 billion, according to the OSP. The findings, he said, confirm a pattern of “using public office for profit under the guise of revenue assurance.”