THE Special Prosecutor, Mr Kissi Agyebeng, yesterday told the High Court in Accra that he is awaiting the outcome of two pending cases in the United States involving former Minister of Finance, Kenneth Ofori-Atta, and Ernest Akore.
Mr Ofori-Atta is currently held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Virginia over alleged visa violations and an extradition request was filed by Ghana’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has filed 78 charges against Mr Ofori-Atta and six others, including causing financial loss to the state, using public office for private gain, willful oppression, unduly influencing procurement, and entering financial commitments beyond one fiscal year without parliamentary approval.
The charges is related to the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) revenue assurance contract, which allegedly caused a GH¢1.436 billion loss.
The other accused are former Ghana Revenue Authority officials, Emmanuel Kofi Nti and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah; former Customs Division Commissioners, Isaac Crentsil and Kwadwo Damoah; Ernest Darko Akore, a former aide to Ofori-Atta; Evans Adusei, CEO of SML; and SML itself.
Mr Agyebeng told the court that the accused hatched a “criminal enterprise” to exploit the SML contract for personal gain.
“The enterprise commenced in 2017 by the first, third, seventh, and eighth accused persons, with others joining later. There was no genuine need to contract SML, which was secured through self-serving patronage based on false and unverified claims,” he disclosed.
The OSP alleged that the six former officials enabled SML to largely pretend to perform contractual obligations, resulting in the massive financial loss.
The accused claimed that SML possessed unique technical expertise and patented systems for revenue assurance, value chain audits, and external price verification in the petroleum and mineral sectors—claims the OSP says were false.
According to the Special Prosecutor, the accused “acted with impunity, abusing public office for private benefit,” causing significant loss to the state while undermining accountability and governance.
BY MALIK SULLEMAN
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