Africa-Press – Ghana. The Management of Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited (SML) has said that their operations are collapsing the illegal trade of a cartel in the oil ring.
The company says that they are aware that the cartel is fighting to undermine the Government’s fight against illegalities in the petroleum sector.
SML said this while refuting the claims made about its operations in a recent documentary compiled by the Fourth Estate.
The Fourth Estate in a report published on December 18 said its investigations have disproved wild claims by SML Company that it had helped to save Ghana billions of cedis that would have been lost in the downstream petroleum sector but for its intervention.
The company also tried to justify why it receives up to GH₵24 million monthly payments from the government of Ghana in a questionable contract it signed with the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The Fourth Estate, however, revealed that the company, with the help of a section of Ghana’s media, had made false and unsubstantiated claims of its operations that have served as the basis for the payment it received. It appears the Ministry of Finance and the GRA were aware the claims were false, for some officials of the GRA said they had confronted the company about its claims of savings and volumes on two separate occasions.
A few hours after the reporters confronted the management of SML with the findings of the investigation and asked for a response, the major services it claimed to render to the government disappeared from the company’s website.
The investigation also uncovered that at a time players in the downstream petroleum sector were questioning the relevance of SML’s involvement, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, initiated a more outrageous deal that would entitle the company to over $100 million every year for the next 10 years.
But SML in a statement said “The documentary represents a set of misrepresentations, false claims, and a general lack of understanding on the entire operations of the company.
“We challenge Fourth Estate to produce any contract anywhere that is for a 10-year period. The 5th PPA Board at its 46th Board meeting in a letter referenced PPA/CEO/09/2286/23 approved a contract duration of five (5) years.”
Below is their full statement…
STATEMENT BY SML ON THE DOCUMENTARY BY THE FOURTH ESTATE ON THE YET TO BE OPERATIONALIZED CONTRACT ON UPSTREAM PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND MINERALS AND METALS RESOURCES VALUE CHAIN
The company has taken note of a documentary that has been aired by the fourth estate’s team and places these on record.
We are aware of the heightened efforts by the Cartel in the oil ring whose illegal trade is being collapsed and is fighting to undermine Government’s fight against illegalities in the petroleum sector.
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