In a major escalation of the investigation into the controversial revenue assurance contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has confirmed the arrest of Freeman Sarbah, the acting Head of Legal at the GRA.
Mr. Sarbah is being investigated on multiple grave charges, including suspected corruption and corruption-related offences, as well as the critical charge of obstruction of justice, all in relation to the highly scrutinised GRA–SML deal.
His arrest signifies the OSP’s intensified focus on key public officers allegedly involved in securing and covering up the unlawful and financially damaging contract.
The charge of obstruction of justice levelled against the GRA’s top legal officer is particularly significant, as the OSP’s investigation has previously highlighted a profound lack of transparency from the GRA.
The OSP established that the GRA failed to provide complete agreements between SML and its third-party partners, which the OSP deemed a breach of transparency and governance standards.
This arrest suggests that the OSP is now pursuing criminal action against officials suspected of impeding its probe into the origins and execution of the deal, which the OSP has described as being secured through “self-serving official patronage based on false and unverified claims”.
The arrest comes amidst the OSP’s ongoing probe into the sheer financial scale and legal irregularities surrounding the SML contracts:
- Massive Payments: The OSP’s investigation established that SML received a staggering total of over GH¢1.4 billion from the Republic by December 2024. Crucially, these payments were reportedly made on an automatic mode, detached from actual performance and without effective supervision by the GRA.
- Unlawful Contracting: The contracts themselves were deemed irregular and unlawful, as they were initially awarded without the required approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and lacked the necessary parliamentary approval for multi-year contracts.
- Statutory Violations: The findings revealed clear violations of multiple statutory provisions, including Section 179C of the Criminal Offences Act (prohibiting using public office for profit) and Section 92(2b) of the Public Procurement Act (forbidding influencing procurement processes to obtain an unfair advantage).
Mr. Sarbah’s arrest is part of a broader crackdown on senior officials connected to the SML scandal.
The OSP’s investigation has uncovered a “tightly knit and non-coincidental association of events,” strongly suggesting an “orchestrated plan”.
Several former senior GRA officials, including past Commissioners-General and Commissioners of Customs, have previously been detained or investigated in connection with their roles in facilitating the unlawful revenue assurance contracts.
The OSP’s relentless pursuit of accountability, culminating in the arrest of a sitting Head of Legal, underscores the commitment to thoroughly investigate and prosecute all individuals—regardless of their position—who are found culpable in causing financial losses to the state.
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