{"id":213388,"date":"2024-08-27T06:40:37","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T06:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/"},"modified":"2024-08-27T06:40:37","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T06:40:37","slug":"five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/","title":{"rendered":"Five entities sue gov&#8217;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Business News of Tuesday, 27 August 2024<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>classfmonline.com<\/p>\n<p>2024-08-27<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/163\/16370028.295.jpg\" alt=\"File photo\" title=\"File photo\" width=\"295\" height=\"148\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>File photo<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p style=\"clear:right\" id=\"article-123\">Five prominent Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), have initiated legal action to recover over GH\u20b51 billion allegedly misappropriated in payments made to Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML). <\/p>\n<p>The other NGOs involved in this lawsuit are the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), and the Human Rights and Governance Centre.<\/p>\n<p>This move comes in the wake of a comprehensive audit conducted by international audit firm KPMG, which was commissioned earlier this year by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. <\/p>\n<p>The audit was initiated to scrutinize the contractual dealings between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and SML, particularly focusing on the processes and approvals associated with the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The audited contract between the GRA and SML was initially established with the aim of enhancing revenue assurance across critical sectors of Ghana&#8217;s economy, including the downstream petroleum sector, upstream petroleum production, and the minerals and metals resources value chain. The intention was to streamline revenue collection and ensure transparency and efficiency in these lucrative sectors.<\/p>\n<p>However, the findings of the KPMG audit revealed significant procedural lapses and regulatory breaches in the awarding of the contract. Notably, the GRA failed to secure mandatory approvals from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and did not seek the necessary parliamentary oversight before finalizing the agreement with SML. These omissions constitute clear violations of Ghana&#8217;s public procurement laws and regulations, which are designed to promote accountability, transparency, and fairness in the use of public funds.<\/p>\n<p>In response to these revelations, the coalition of NGOs has filed a lawsuit against the government, seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the breaches and to recover the substantial funds disbursed under the unlawful contract. The NGOs argue that the disregard for due process and legal requirements not only undermines the rule of law but also results in significant financial losses to the state, which could have been allocated to critical development projects and public services.<\/p>\n<p>The government and the GRA are yet to issue official statements in response to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business News of Tuesday, 27 August 2024 Source: classfmonline.com 2024-08-27 File photo Five prominent Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), have initiated legal action to recover over GH\u20b51 billion allegedly misappropriated in payments made to Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML). The other NGOs involved [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five entities sue gov&#039;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh\u20b51bn-paid-to-sml\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five entities sue gov&#039;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Business News of Tuesday, 27 August 2024 Source: classfmonline.com 2024-08-27 File photo Five prominent Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), have initiated legal action to recover over GH\u20b51 billion allegedly misappropriated in payments made to Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML). The other NGOs involved [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh\u20b51bn-paid-to-sml\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-27T06:40:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/16370028.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"Five entities sue gov&#8217;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-27T06:40:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":371,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/16370028.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/\",\"name\":\"Five entities sue gov't over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/16370028.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-27T06:40:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/16370028.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/16370028.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":300},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/27\\\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Five entities sue gov&#8217;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Five entities sue gov't over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh\u20b51bn-paid-to-sml\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Five entities sue gov't over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"Business News of Tuesday, 27 August 2024 Source: classfmonline.com 2024-08-27 File photo Five prominent Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), including the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), have initiated legal action to recover over GH\u20b51 billion allegedly misappropriated in payments made to Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML). The other NGOs involved [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh\u20b51bn-paid-to-sml\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-08-27T06:40:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/16370028.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"Five entities sue gov&#8217;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML","datePublished":"2024-08-27T06:40:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/"},"wordCount":371,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/16370028.jpg","articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/","name":"Five entities sue gov't over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/16370028.jpg","datePublished":"2024-08-27T06:40:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/16370028.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/16370028.jpg","width":600,"height":300},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/08\/27\/five-entities-sue-govt-over-gh%e2%82%b51bn-paid-to-sml\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Five entities sue gov&#8217;t over GH\u20b51bn paid to SML"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}