In a shocking revelation, a recent KPMG audit report has uncovered that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is set to pay a staggering GHS 5.1 billion in fees to Strategic Mobilization Ghana Ltd (SML) over a five-year period under a revenue assurance contract.
The findings from KPMG’s audit indicate that the total estimated fees to be paid to SML under the 2023 Contract amounts to GHS 5,173,091,857, which averages around GHS1 billion per year.
The report further states that in 2023, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), GRA, and SML entered into a Revenue Assurance Services Contract, which expanded SML’s scope of services to include upstream petroleum and minerals audit, in addition to the downstream petroleum audit services already being undertaken.
KPMG’s audit revealed that under the downstream petroleum audit services contract with the GRA, total fees paid to SML from 2018 to the date of suspension amounted to GHS 1,061,054,778.
The audit firm also noted that the pricing model used in the contracts between SML and GRA was based on a variable fee structure, which is unusual for such transaction monitoring services, as they are typically priced using a fixed fee model.
Despite the substantial fees paid to SML, the audit found that there were qualitative benefits, including a 24/7 electronic real-time monitoring of the outflow and partial monitoring of inflows of petroleum products at depots where SML had installed flowmeters, serving as a deterrent for under-declarations.
However, KPMG expressed concerns about the upstream petroleum audit and minerals audit services contract signed in 2023, stating that SML had yet to implement the contract and that a comprehensive needs assessment should be conducted to establish the need for those services.
The KPMG report was commissioned by President Nana Akufo-Addo, who appointed the audit firm to review the contract and submit a report within two weeks. After a request for extension, the final report was submitted on March 27, 2024.
By Vincent Kubi