Former GRA Boss, Seven Others Arrested Over SML Contract
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has arrested former Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and seven other officials.
The former GRA boss alongside Isaac Crentsil, ex-Commissioner of Customs and now General Manager at SML; and Christian Tetteh Sottie, former Technical Advisor and now MD/CEO of SML were arrested on Tuesday and detained overnight.
Their detention followed their failure to meet the bail conditions, the OSP explained in a statement.
The rest whose arrests were confirmed on Wednesday include Evans Adusei, CEO of SML; Philip Mensah, Former Deputy Commissioner of Legal GRA and now Legal consultant to SML; Joseph Kuruk, staff of Public Procurement Authority (PPA); Faustina Adjorkor staff of PPA; and Kofi Nti, former Commissioner General of GRA.
The Office said the arrests are 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.
Background
The GRA awarded three contracts to SML since 2019 to detect invoice fraud, fight under-declaration of fuel volumes and, by extension, taxes collected by the fuel marketers from consumers on behalf of the government and then an expansion to minerals exported by Ghana.
The contacts are reported to have been awarded through sole sourcing.
According to the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) who first brought this to the attention of the public, investigations revealed SML is not tackling any of the problems and malfeasance that was identified in causing leakages in the sector.
It also established that SML by the contract will be paid US$100 million by the government of Ghana for the “revenue assurance” it provides.
The GRA in a statement in December 2023 denied SML was being paid for no work done.
“The work of SML over the period has led to a significant increase in the figures reported in the downstream petroleum sector, from an average of 350 million litres per month in 2018 and 2019, to 450 million litres per month from 2020/2021.
“This represents over a thirty- three per cent (33%) increase in volume reporting and an average of an extra 100 million litres per month at a levy rate of GHS1.44p. The extra revenue variance gained for the two (2) years will exceed GHS3 billion. This performance is attributable mainly to the introduction of ICUMS and SML systems.”
Source: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/
