Christian Sottie, SML boss
Management of the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) has declared that the KPMG audit report has cleared the company of any allegations of impropriety levelled against it by the Fourth Estate.
According to the company, the audit report also refutes the false claims of $100 million paid to SML and the 10-year contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as alleged by Manasseh Azure Awuni.
In a statement issued yesterday and signed by its Director of Support Services, Yaa Serwaa Sarpong, SML said the KPMG report had also confirmed the importance of the upstream and minerals agreements.
“SML further observes that a comprehensive needs assessment in those sectors was previously conducted, which supports KPMG’s findings that revenue assurance audit services are needed in that sector,” the company indicated.
According to the statement, the KPMG’s report also confirms the need for the company’s proven services.
The statement said SML supervision within the sector showed a drastic monthly average increase of 207,885,058 litres to 450,175,163 litres in taxable volumes for the periods January to December 2019 and May 2020 to April 2021, respectively.
It also translates into 10,308,536,872 litres in excess gained volumes and excess revenue of GH¢14,844,293,095, revealing a significant rise in monthly average taxable volumes of 450 million litres sustained during the past three years of SML’s deployment.
The company stated that KPMG also confirmed that other important benefits from the SML technology, including a deterrent for under-declarations and several levels of reconciliation and validation, prevented revenue losses to GRA.
According to SML, despite the misleading information spread by Manasseh Azure Awuni and the Fourth Estate, an independent report by KPMG found that there was no record of a 10-year contract between the company and GRA.
The company, however, disagreed with some portions of KPMG’s findings that a need assessment was not done before SML commenced operations.
It said the award of performance driven contract was also in full compliance with the Public Procurement Act.
SML also expressed dissatisfaction with the Transaction Audit and External Price Verification Agreement findings, as well as rejecting KPMG’s claim that it partially met certain Transaction Audit Service Agreement obligations.
“Regarding the transaction audit services, SML delivered fully on its obligations as outlined in the contract. SML’s productive performance was the basis for subsequent recommendation and awarding of the downstream petroleum audit contract.
“The Transaction Audit contract includes provisions for monitoring and evaluation services as well as a value-for-money assessment, both of which were diligently adhered to by the GRA and SML,” the statement added.
According to SML, despite the misleading information peddled by Manasseh Azure Awuni and the Fourth Estate, an independent report from KPMG, though containing some disputed and inaccurate statements, confirmed that there was no record of 10-year contract between the company and GRA.
“There is no duplication of work with respect to the work of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA). The GRA awarded the 2023 consolidated contract to SML following due process,” the statement noted.
It continued that SML’s risk-reward performance-based contract with GRA was wholly funded by SML, with no pesewa from the Ghana government.
On January 2, 2024, President Akufo-Addo appointed KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services, to investigate the “full risk reward partnership agreement” between the GRA and SML.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah