Ken Ofori-Atta
The trial of former Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, some former Commissioners-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as well as officials of Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), over the controversial revenue assurance contract awarded to the private company, commenced before a High Court in Accra yesterday.
While Mr. Ofori-Atta; his Chef de Cabinet, Ernest Darko Akore and Kwadwo Damoah were absent, 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 all 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.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is accusing the eight 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.
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).
The OSP has triggered extradition of Mr. Ofori-Atta and Akore, who are said to be in the United States, and has also filed an application before the court for leave to serve the processes and hearing notice on the two accused persons out of the jurisdiction.
Mr. Damoah, who is a Member of Parliament, did not show up for the trial because the hearing notice was not served on him through a parliamentary service as prescribed by Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution.
His lawyer, Robert Yeboah, told the court yesterday that the accused was in Parliament on December 9, 2025, when he was called to report to the OSP.
While there, he said Mr. Damoah was ambushed by a bailiff who sought to serve him with the judicial process instead of through a parliamentary service.
He argued that such an ambush would not qualify as a proper service to a sitting Member of Parliament when Parliament was in session and also sitting on that particular day.
This assertion was denied by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, who argued that Parliament being in session or sitting on that very day, did not mean that Mr. Damoah was actually in Parliament, and that when he was served, he was returning from Parliament.
Justice Francis Aponga Achiponga, in a ruling, held that Mr. Damoah is a sitting MP and since Ghana’s Parliament is currently in session, it is assumed that he ought to be in Parliament, hence his attendance at OSP qualifies as one of returning from proceedings of Parliament and, is therefore, covered from service.
The judge therefore, turned down a request by the Special Prosecutor to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of Mr. Damoah for not showing up for the trial.
The court subsequently went ahead to take the pleas of Emmanuel Kofi Nti, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Isaac Crentsil, Evans Adusei and SML, who all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Defence lawyers pleaded with the court to grant the accused persons bail pending the trial, while asserting that the accused have shown their willingness to avail themselves for the trial by way of how they have complied with the conditions of the bail granted them by the OSP.
The Special Prosecutor did not oppose the application but urged the court to take into account the fact that over GH¢1.4 billion had been paid to SML, and the accused persons intended more money to be paid to the company but for the intervention of the OSP which truncated these payments.
Justice Achiponga granted the accused GH¢50 million bail each, with two sureties each to be justified. The accused were ordered to surrender their international passports to the court’s registry and also report to the OSP once every week.
The court, however, suspended the execution of the bail until Monday, December 15, 2025, due to the fact that the case had ended just a few minutes before 4pm, which is usually the time the courts close.
He, however, ordered the accused to report to the OSP today to commence the processes for the execution of the bail conditions.
The court has adjourned the case to December 17, 2025, for the plea of Mr. Damoah to be taken. His lawyer was told to inform the accused of the court’s decision.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak