{"id":102362,"date":"2025-11-07T16:38:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=102362"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:38:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:38:44","slug":"sml-lawyer-denies-ken-ofori-attas-link-to-company-calls-osp-claims-baseless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=102362","title":{"rendered":"SML lawyer denies Ken Ofori-Atta\u2019s link to company, calls OSP claims baseless"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 37 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>Lawyer for Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), Cephas Boyuo, has refuted allegations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) suggesting that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has an interest in the company.<\/p>\n<p>Boyuo described the OSP\u2019s claims as \u201cuntrue and misleading,\u201d insisting that SML is independently owned and has no political ties.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, it would be illogical to suggest that Ofori-Atta has an interest in the company when, during his tenure as Finance Minister, he allegedly denied SML tax exemptions on imported equipment.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cEvery equipment that SML brought in, Ken Ofori-Atta refused to give SML exemption. SML paid for everything. So if he had an interest, why did he not just allow them to bring in the items freely?\u201d  Boyuo questioned.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/OFORI-ATTA.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He emphasised that SML is fully owned by its founder, Evans Adusei, and not linked to any political figure. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is untrue that Ken Ofori-Atta has an interest in SML. It\u2019s only for Evans Adusei,\u201d he stressed, adding that the OSP should not rely on \u201cinsinuations and assumptions\u201d in its investigations.<\/p>\n<p>The Office of the Special Prosecutor is investigating SML over a revenue assurance contract it signed with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). <\/p>\n<p>The OSP\u2019s report alleged procurement irregularities and questioned payments made to SML for services in the downstream petroleum sector.<\/p>\n<p>The probe has sparked widespread public interest, particularly after the OSP claimed that over GH\u00a2125 million could be recovered from the company. <\/p>\n<p>SML, however, has rejected the claims, describing them as unfounded and damaging to its reputation.<\/p>\n<p>Boyuo also criticised the OSP for what he described as a pattern of speculative conclusions, urging the anti-corruption agency to rely on facts and evidence.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cFor a serious investigative organisation like the OSP, you do not work with insinuations. You don\u2019t say \u2018it will appear as if\u2019 or \u2018it looks like.\u2019 Investigations must be based on evidence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"102362\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/happy.svg\" alt=\"Happy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Happy                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                        \n            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         <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Surprise<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/osppp-150x150.webp\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"SML lawyer denies Ken Ofori-Atta\u2019s link to company, calls OSP claims baseless\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SML lawyer denies Ken Ofori-Atta\u2019s link to company, calls OSP claims baseless\">Lawyer for Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), Cephas Boyuo, has refuted allegations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) suggesting that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has an interest in the company.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1951,1883,117,1352,335,10,9,5359],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hp-news-1","category-national","category-news","category-ofori-atta","category-osp","category-politics","category-popular","category-sml"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}