GRA-SML deal: We’ve not been paid GH¢1bn – SML insists

The Director of Support Services at Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML), Yaa Serwaa Sarpong, has maintained that the claims suggesting the company was paid GH¢1,061,054,778.00 for its revenue mobilisation contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are not true.

Madam Serwaa Sarpong said SML only received 0.05 pesewas on every litre for their performance.

“That is what is in the report, and that is what we say we disagree, and we have not received any GHS1 billion; we have only been given 0.05 pesewas per litre for the performance,” Serwaa Sarpong stated in an interview on Citi TV.

But when asked about the total amount paid to SML, she responded, “I’m not the accountant, I can’t say that now. KPMG’s amount is not true, because we have not received that.”

According to KPMG’s findings, SML was paid GH¢1,061,054,778.00 from 2018 to January 2, 2024, when President Akufo-Addo suspended the deal following the Fourth Estate’s ‘The GH¢ 3 Billion Lie‘ documentary.

However, SML, had previously denied the payment.

The company said in an April 25 statement, “SML finds that KPMG’s failure to state GRA taxes of 31.5% taken before payment, interest payments of 32% plus the investment repayment made by SML, and other taxes/duties over the period creates a very unbalanced impression of the relationship between the compensation and the investment and other related costs. This omission is highly misleading.”

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SML also reaffirmed its commitment to contributing to Ghana’s development by adhering to ethically acceptable standards and maintaining the quality of its work.

Meanwhile, the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has described the contract between GRA and SML as “illegal” and demanded immediate termination.

NDC demands termination of GRA-SML “illegal” deal; also wants persons involved in the contract prosecuted

The National Communications Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi, addressing the media on Monday, said the “next NDC government will not recognise illegal contracts.”

He wondered why the government would go into contract with a company to generate GHC2.4 billion in revenue and pay the company GHC1 billion, stressing that such an arrangement would never take place anywhere in the world.

“The NDC wishes to reiterate the pledge by our flagbearer and leader, John Mahama, that the next NDC government will not recognise the illegal contracts between the government of Ghana and SML, upon assumption of office in the year 2025.”

“When elected into office, we shall launch credible and transparent investigations into this stinking SML scandal, to retrieve for the State, all illegal payments made to SML and ensure the prosecution of all persons who are complicit in these illegal transactions,” he said.

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