The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has ordered the suspension and investigation of the revenue assurance contract signed between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Ltd. (SML).
In a press statement issued by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, the president noted that the President has appointed KPMG, an Audit, Tax, and Advisory Services firm to conduct an immediate audit of the transaction.
“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has appointed KPMG, the reputable Audit, Tax and Advisory Services firm, to conduct an immediate audit into the transaction between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilization Ghana Ltd (SML), a contract which was entered into to enhance revenue assurance in the downstream petroleum sector, the upstream petroleum production and minerals and metals resources value chain.”
President Akufo-Addo has also tasked KPMG to complete its report in two weeks and “submit appropriate recommendations to him.”
The President has directed the Ministry of Finance and the GRA to suspend the performance of the contract, pending the submission of the audit report.
“The President has directed the Ministry of Finance and GRA to provide KPMG with whatever assistance they will require for conduct of the audit, and has also directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority to suspend the performance of the contract, pending the submission of the audit report, including any payments presently envisaged under its terms.”
SML, after an investigative piece put together by the Fourth Estate in December 2023, debunked claims of being awarded a 10-year contract duration, insisting that it has been given a 5-year contract instead.
SML further dispelled claims that it takes $100 million annually from its contract.
The Ghana Revenue Authority, in a statement issued on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, affirmed that its board and management followed the right processes in procuring the services of SML.
“The Contract is for five (5) years and is performance-based and approved under Section 40 of the Public Procurement Act, Act 663, 2003.”
This follows the Fourth Estate’s report, indicating that SML had been awarded a 10-year contract and that it takes $100 million annually from the contract.
The Fourth Estate also said its investigations have disproved wild claims by SML Company that it had helped save Ghana billions of cedis that would have been lost in the downstream petroleum sector but for its intervention.
The Finance Committee of Parliament on December 23, 2023, recommended a suspension of all payments under the government’s contract with SML from 2024, pending a probe into the contract by Parliament.
The committee said upon a review of the contract, it requires Parliamentary approval under the Financial Management Act, hence the need for the GRA to be notified about the statutory requirement.
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Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson, has responded to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, describing his directive to investigate the SML-GRA deal as an exercise in futility.
The Minority Leader, in a statement, said the decision by the President ‘has come too late in the day’, arguing that the president should have led the fight in the wake of the scandal.
Read the statement by the Minority Leader below
Minority Leader Dr Ato Forson writes;
President Akufo-Addo’s appointment of KPMG to audit the so-called revenue assurance agreement between Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) has come too late in the day.
Parliament has already directed the Finance Committee to audit the infamous agreement and the Committee is actively seized of the matter.
The President, who should have led this fight in the wake of this scandal, is playing catch up since Parliament has also directed GRA to suspend all payments to SML.
This whitewashing attempt by the President in the name of an audit will not dissuade Parliament from looking into this matter to stop the siphoning of state resources into the private pockets of government officials and their crony business partners.
