The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Anthony Kwasi Sarpong, has disclosed that no payments have been made to Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) since he assumed office in January 2025.
In an interview on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Mr. Sarpong said suspending payments to the company was among the first decisions he took upon assuming leadership of the Authority.
According to him, his prior involvement in audit work by KPMG on the GRA-SML contract gave him a firm grasp of the issues at stake, which guided his immediate actions.
“By the time I came into office, I already understood the issues. The first thing I did was to stop payment to SML. Up till today, not a single payment has been made since January [2025],” he said.
Mr. Sarpong further revealed that he moved to suspend aspects of SML’s operations that were under dispute, pending investigations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
He dismissed claims that his previous role at KPMG creates a conflict of interest, stressing that he no longer has any financial ties to the firm.
“I retired from KPMG before taking up this role, so anything KPMG does does not benefit me financially,” he said.
The GRA boss also defended the conclusions of the KPMG audit, noting that its findings largely align with those of the OSP, with only slight differences regarding the valuation of certain aspects of SML’s operations.
The GRA–SML contract has been under intense public scrutiny following the release of an audit report commissioned by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The agreement, which sought to deploy technology to enhance revenue collection and plug leakages, has faced criticism over concerns about value for money and implementation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sarpong’s appointment as Commissioner-General has also been challenged in court by a private citizen, who argues that his former position at KPMG raises potential conflict of interest concerns and questions the legality of his appointment.
