Col. (rtd.) Kwadwo Damoah
A former Commissioner of Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Col. (rtd.) Kwadwo Damoah, has been admitted to a GH¢50 million bail after pleading not guilty to 10 charges over the controversial revenue assurance contract awarded to Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML).
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is alleging that the multi-year contract awarded to the private company has cost the nation over GH¢1.4 billion in financial loss.
The accused was absent in court on December 11 when the case was first called, due to irregularity in serving him with the charge sheet and fact sheet in breach of Article 117 of the Constitution, as he is a sitting Member of Parliament.
The OSP is accusing seven officials of GRA and SML and the company of causing financial loss of GH¢1,436,249,828.53 to the state by allegedly creating the opportunity for SML to largely “pretend to perform the services under the various contracts.”
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.
The OSP has triggered extradition of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta and Ernest Darko Akore, who are said to be in the United States.
Emmanuel Kofi Nti, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, all former Commissioners-General of GRA; Isaac Crentsil, a former Commissioner of Customs Division of GRA and Evans Adusei, Chief Executive Officer of SML and the company itself have already pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them and were admitted to a bail of GH¢50 million each with two sureties each to be justified on December 11, 2025.
Col. (rtd.) also pleaded not guilty to eight substantive charges and two conspiracy charges yesterday and his lawyer, Robert Yeboah, prayed the court to grant him bail pending the trial.
He told the court that the accused is not a flight risk and is a sitting Member of Parliament for Jaman South and would avail himself for the trial.
The court, presided over by Justice Francis Aponga Achiponga, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge, admitted him to bail in the sum of GH¢50 million with two sureties.
The court however, suspended the execution of the bail until December 31, 2025, to enable the accused person the chance to find the sureties so as to meet the bail terms.
The court, therefore, ordered that Col. (rtd.) Damoah remains on the bail terms imposed on him by the OSP until he executes the terms imposed by the court.
He was also ordered to deposit his passport/travel documents at the registry of the court and also report to the lead investigator once every week.
The court also placed him on the Ghana Immigration Service Stop List at the various points of entry and exit.
Meanwhile, the court has ordered the OSP to file disclosures and witness statements and have same served on the accused persons by January 27, 2026.
The accused persons were also ordered to file the names and addresses of witnesses they will rely on should they be called upon to open their defence.
They were further ordered to file witness statements if they wish to do so by January 27, 2026. The trial was adjourned to January 29, 2026, for case management conference.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak