The Majority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has described the appointment of accounting and auditing firm, KPMG to audit the contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) as belated.
He said Parliament has already taken the initiative to do so.
This is contained in a message he posted on his Facebook page on January 2 after President Akufo-Addo directed the suspension and audit into the contract.
“President Akufo-Addo’s appointment of KPMG to audit the so-called revenue assurance agreement between Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) has come too late in the day. Parliament has already directed the Finance Committee to audit the infamous agreement and the Committee is actively seized of the matter,“ he wrote.
According to Dr Forson, “The President, who should have led this fight in the wake of this scandal, is playing catch up since Parliament has also directed GRA to suspend all payments to SML. This whitewashing attempt by the President in the name of an audit will not dissuade Parliament from looking into this matter to stop the siphoning of state resources into the private pockets of government officials and their crony business partners.”
SML contract in its current shape is not valid and must come to parliament for approval – Ato Forson
Earlier, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ordered an audit into the contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML).
Accordingly, KPMG, an Audit, Tax and Advisory Services firm, was appointed to conduct an audit into the transaction, which was entered into to enhance revenue assurance in the downstream petroleum sector, the upstream petroleum production and minerals and metals resources value chain.
A press release dated January 2 and signed by the Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin stated that the Terms of Reference of the audit are as follows: “i. conduct an audit to ascertain the rationale or needs assessment performed prior to the contract approval by GRA, and assess how the arrangement aligns with specific needs; ii. assess the appropriateness of the contracting methodology, verifying compliance with legal standards and industry best practices in the procurement process for the selection of SML;
The press release added that, “President Akufo-Addo has tasked KPMG to complete the assignment in two weeks.”
“The President has directed the Ministry of Finance and GRA to provide KPMG with whatever assistance they will require for conduct of the audit, and has also directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority to suspend the performance of the contract, pending the submission of the audit report, including any payments presently envisaged under its terms,” the statement concluded.
Background
A year-long investigation by Evans Aziamor-Mensah, Adwoa Adobea-Owusu and Manasseh Azure Awuni of The Fourth Estate, revealed that the company (SML), with the help of a section of Ghana’s media, had made false and unsubstantiated claims of its operations that have served as the basis for the payment it received.
The Fourth Estate asserted that, it appears the Ministry of Finance and the GRA were aware the claims were false, for some officials of the GRA said they had confronted the company about its claims of savings and volumes on two separate occasions.
A few hours after the reporters confronted the management of SML with the findings of the investigation and asked for a response, the major services it claimed to render to the government disappeared from the company’s website.
The investigation also uncovered that at a time players in the downstream petroleum sector were questioning the relevance of SML’s involvement, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, initiated a more outrageous deal that would entitle the company to over $100 million every year for the next 10 years.