Kissi Agyebeng
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been given more time to attempt serving criminal summons and other processes on the former Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and his Chef de Cabinet, Ernest Darko Akore, for their alleged roles in the revenue assurance contract awarded to Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The case is still at the preliminary stage as the OSP is still filing disclosures and witness statements for the trial to commence.
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, told the court yesterday that his office was still taking steps to serve Mr. Ofori-Atta and Akore, who are now domiciled in the United States, with criminal summons.
He, therefore, prayed the court for a month’s adjournment to enable his outfit serve the criminal summons on the two.
The court, presided over by Justice Francis Achibonga, adjourned the case to September 22, 2026.
Permanent Residence
Ken Ofori-Atta has secured a permanent United States residence following the decision of a US Immigration Court to grant him a ‘Green Card,’ his lawyers confirmed yesterday.
A statement issued in June by lawyers representing him in Ghana said the US court heard evidence relating to actions taken by Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), “including the OSP’s earlier decision to declare Mr. Ofori-Atta a fugitive from justice at a time when he was reportedly undergoing medical treatment in the United States and while his lawyers remained in communication with investigators in Ghana.”
Despite the grant of permanent residency to Mr. Ofori-Atta, the OSP has declared its intention to pursue the extradition of the former minister to Ghana to stand trial for the crimes he is accused of.
Charges
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has charged former Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta and two former Commissioners-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as well as officials of Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), over the revenue assurance contract awarded to the private company, costing the nation over GH¢1.4 billion in “financial loss.”
The other accused persons are Ernest Darko Akore, Chef de Cabinet of Ofori-Atta; Emmanuel Kofi Nti; Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, all former Commissioners-General of GRA, Isaac Crentsil; Kwadwo Damoah, all former Commissioners of Customs Division of GRA; Evans Adusei, Chief Executive Officer of SML and the company itself.
Together, they are facing a total of 78 counts of offences, including causing financial loss to the state, corruption and related offences, using public office for profit and attempt to commit criminal offence of influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of procurement contract.
Other charges include conspiracy to commit the criminal offence of directly or indirectly influencing the procurement process to gain an unfair advantage, conspiracy to commit the criminal offence of wilful oppression, false certificate by public officer, and entering into an agreement with a financial commitment that binds the government for more than one financial year without prior authorisation by Parliament contrary to sections 33(1)(b) and 98(1)(d) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016, (Act 921).
Court documents indicate that the accused persons conspired and set up a criminal enterprise of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain unfair advantage for SML in the award of procurement contracts for transaction audit services, external price verification services, measurement audit of downstream petroleum products, upstream petroleum audit services, and minerals audit services purportedly by the Government of Ghana, acting through the Ministry of Finance and GRA.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak