It's a sham! - Ablakwa on Akufo-Addo directing KPMG to audit SML contract

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has indicated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's appointment of KPMG to conduct an audit into the transaction between Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilization Ghana Ltd (SML) was nothing but a sham.

In a post on X sighted by GhanaWeb Business, he stated that KPMG has about six days left to submit its report and recommendations to President Akufo-Addo.

"It is also worth noting that KPMG has only about 6 days left to report to the President. Clearly, President Akufo-Addo’s much-touted investigations into the SML scandal is nothing but a sham," the lawmaker said.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa further accused the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah who signed the SML contract of travelling outside the country with his nuclear family a day after President Akufo-Addo announced the probe into the contract.

"Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Adu Owusu-Amoah who signed the dubious SML contract was allowed to travel out of the country with his entire nuclear family less than 24 hours after Akufo-Addo’s 2nd January, 2024 press statement announcing that KPMG has been tasked to carry out an urgent audit into the sleazy affair," Okudzeto Ablakwa stated.

The contract, which was entered into by GRA and SML was to enhance revenue assurance in the downstream petroleum sector, the upstream petroleum production and minerals and metals resources value chain.

SML, after an investigative piece by the Fourth Estate in December 2023 debunked claims of being awarded a 10-year contract duration, insisting that it has been given a 5-year contract instead.

The company further dispelled claims that it takes $100 million annually from its contract.

The Ghana Revenue Authority, in a statement issued on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, also affirmed that its board and management followed the right processes in procuring the services of SML.

“The Contract is for five (5) years and is performance-based and approved under Section 40 of the Public Procurement Act, Act 663, 2003.”

The Fourth Estate also said its investigations have disproved wild claims by SML Company that it had helped save Ghana billions of cedis that would have been lost in the downstream petroleum sector but for its intervention.

The Finance Committee of Parliament on December 23, 2023, recommended a suspension of all payments under the government’s contract with SML from 2024, pending a probe into the contract by Parliament.

The committee said upon a review of the contract, it requires Parliamentary approval under the Financial Management Act, hence the need for the GRA to be notified about the statutory requirement.

Read Okudzeto's tweet below;

SML SCANDAL— WHY IS THE AKUFO-ADDO/BAWUMIA GOVERNMENT PRETENDING THEY HAVEN’T ASSISTED THE GRA BOSS & HIS FAMILY TO RUN OUT OF THE COUNTRY?

Can the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government stop the despicable deception that they are seriously investigating the SML/GRA scandal.

President… pic.twitter.com/FWGR2ysg0s

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) January 10, 2024