Three former top officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), including a former Commissioner-General, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, are currently in custody in connection with the ongoing probe into the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) scandal.

The other two are Dr. Isaac Crentsil, a former Commissioner of Customs, and Christian Tetteh Sottie, who previously served as a technical advisor to the Commissioner-General of the GRA.

All three were arrested and interrogated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) but were placed in the custody of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB)—formerly the Bureau of National Investigations—after failing to meet their bail conditions.

According to sources at the OSP, Dr. Crentsil and Tetteh Sottie now hold positions at SML, the company at the centre of the corruption investigation.

The trio reportedly spent the night in NIB cells as investigations into the controversial contracts between the state and SML deepen.

The scandal, exposed through an investigative documentary by former journalists of The Fourth Estate—Evans Aziamor-Mensah, Adwoa Adobea-Owusu, and Manasseh Azure Awuni—uncovered questionable transactions and irregularities in contracts awarded to SML.

The company, which began operations in 2017 shortly after the Akufo-Addo administration assumed office, has received over $141 million in government payments despite breaching procurement laws, including the Public Procurement Act.

The investigation revealed that SML, which evolved from a timber company, could not provide credible evidence to back claims of substantial revenue savings for the state, despite the large sums paid to it.

Central to the scandal is a 2023 consolidated contract engineered by then-Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

The contract, valued at over $100 million annually and valid for five years (renewable for another five), is a key focus of the Special Prosecutor’s investigation.

Ofori-Atta has since been declared wanted over alleged corruption and related offences linked to the deal.

Among the detained officials, Dr. Crentsil played a pivotal role during the initial contract stages between GRA and SML.

He served as Commissioner of Customs from 2017 to 2019 and was later seconded to the Ministry of Finance as a technical advisor until his retirement in 2022.

He is now the General Manager at SML.