OSP Charges Former Finance Minister Ofori-Atta, Six Others and SML with 78 Counts in GHC1.44bn SML Scandal
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has filed 78 counts of corruption and corruption-related offences against seven individuals and one company in connection with the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) scandal. The charges were filed before the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on November 18, 2025.
The individuals charged include former Minister of Finance, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta (A1); his former Chef de Cabinet, Ernest Darko Akore (A2); former Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Emmanuel Kofi Nti (A3); his successor, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah (A4); former Commissioner of the Customs Division, Isaac Crentsil (A5); Jaman South MP and former Customs Commissioner, Kwadwo Damoah (A6); and Evans Adusei (A7), beneficial owner and Chief Executive Officer of SML (A8), which has also been charged as a corporate entity.
According to the charge sheet, the accused persons conspired to set up and promote a criminal enterprise aimed at manipulating procurement processes to secure unfair advantage for SML in the award of multiple high-value contracts. These contracts covered transaction audits, external price verification, downstream petroleum measurement audits, upstream petroleum audits, and minerals audit services purportedly contracted on behalf of the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance and GRA.
The OSP noted that the enterprise began in 2017 through the alleged actions of Ofori-Atta, Kofi Nti, Adusei, and SML, with the other accused joining later. Prosecutors describe the scheme as one based on “self-serving patronage, sponsorship, and promotion” using false, unverified claims about SML’s capabilities and contributions to national revenue assurance.
The charge sheet further alleges that mandatory statutory approvals from Parliament and the Public Procurement Authority were deliberately bypassed. The OSP contends that the five officials—Ofori-Atta, Kofi Nti, Owusu-Amoah, Crentsil, and Damoah—abused their offices “with emboldened impunity”, ensuring that SML received payments detached from actual performance.
The actions of the accused are said to have created conditions that enabled SML to “largely pretend to perform” its contractual obligations, resulting in a financial loss of approximately GHC1.44 billion to the state.
Prosecutors added that, if not for a petition filed in December 2023, the subsequent OSP investigation (December 2023 to October 2025), the government’s suspension of SML’s operations in January 2024, and the President’s October 31, 2025 directive terminating the company’s contracts, the accused intended to facilitate an additional US$2.8 billion in payments to SML over five years—without the constitutionally required parliamentary approval.
The OSP asserts that the accused relied on false representations that SML possessed unique technical expertise and patented technologies for revenue assurance across petroleum and mineral value chains—claims investigators say were unverified.
The case is expected to be one of the most consequential anti-corruption prosecutions in Ghana’s recent history.
