The charges include conspiracy to commit procurement fraud, causing financial loss to the state, using public office for personal gain, wilful oppression, and influencing procurement processes for unfair advantage.
The charge sheet signed by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, states that the accused persons worked together between June 2017 and December 2024 in a scheme involving contracts for transaction audit services, external price verification, and measurement audit for downstream petroleum products.
According to the prosecution, the contracts were driven by patronage and sponsorship based on false claims about SML’s capacity.
Mr Ofori-Atta is alleged to have facilitated the payment of GH¢468.5 million to SML in 2019 for transaction audit and external verification services under a contract that had not received approval from Parliament or the Public Procurement Authority.
Mr Nti is accused of awarding contracts to SML in October 2019 after his retirement from the GRA. The prosecution says he acted without authority to represent the institution. He also faces charges of false certification for authorising payments of more than GH¢15 million to SML without proof of work.
Prosecutors say the accused persons set up an automatic payment arrangement for SML that was not tied to actual performance. Court filings state that the company received payments for services it did not carry out and lacked the capacity to deliver.
The prosecution also states that the accused persons made false claims that SML had exclusive patented technology for revenue assurance work. All the contracts were awarded through single-source procurement without competitive bidding or statutory approvals.
The case followed a complaint lodged with the OSP in December 2023.
The investigations led to a government suspension of the contracts in January 2024 and a directive from the President on October 31, 2025, for their termination.
Prosecutors say SML would have received an estimated 2.8 billion dollars over five years for upstream petroleum and minerals audit services if the contracts had continued.
