Investigative Journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has taken to his Facebook page to expose the inconsistency in the public statements of the Office of the Special Prosecutor – OSP in relation to the commencement of investigations into the SML case and the time former Finance Minister, who is one of the prime suspects, left the country.
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Backed by evidence, Mr. Awuni insisted that, though he submitted his petition regarding the SML scandal as far back as December 2023, it was on January 29, 2025, that the OSP commenced its investigations into the matter at the time that two of the major persons of interest had left the country.
It would be recalled that the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyeben, at a Press Conference and on The KSM Show stated that, at the time former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, sought assistance from the National Investigations Bureau, the Immigration Service, and the National Security, but to no avail. Mr. Agyabeng also claimed the OSP started the investigations in December 2023.
According to the SP, he virtually saw Ken Ofori-Atta leave the country between January 2-4, 2025, but he was helpless because his [Ken Ofori-Atta] course was the President.
Mr. Awuni dismissed the SP’s claims, saying the investigations commenced only after the former Finance Minister and Ernest Akore, and therefore those people could not have been persons of interest.
The Director of Strategy and Communications at the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Sammy Darko, also shot down Manasseh’s allegations, insisting that the Special Prosecutor’s claim that the OSP started the SML investigation in December 2023.
In the latest revelations, the investigative journalist said:
“I do not intend to argue further, but to present to you the OSP’s own “Diary of Action Taken” on the SML case. The first entry in that diary was January 29, 2025, consistent with the timeline I gave as the first time the OSP’s investigators approached me and said they were about to start the investigation and needed to speak with me and understand the case.”
Read his full post:
1. I have observed with surprise the persistent denial, ridicule and trivialisation from the Director of Strategy and Communications at the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Sammy Darko, since I provided evidence to counter the Special Prosecutor’s claim that the OSP started the SML investigation in December 2023.
2. I do not intend to argue further, but to present to you the OSP’s own “Diary of Action Taken” on the SML case.
3. The first entry in that diary was January 29, 2025, consistent with the timeline I gave as the first time the OSP’s investigators approached me and said they were about to start the investigation and needed to speak with me and understand the case.
4. In an entry dated January 30, 2025, a superior’s instruction to “Team A” on page 2 reads: “Please proceed with PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS NEEDS, prepare an investigation plan and identify the persons of interest we will need to interview and appropriate departments/agencies to provide information. [Emphasis mine].
5. This entry is consistent with the OSP’s admission that at the time Ernest Akore was leaving Ghana in November 2024, the OSP did not know he was a person of interest. The preliminary process to identify the persons of interest started after the January 30, 2025, entry.
5. Sammy Darko has suggested that even if the investigation started in October 2025, it doesn’t matter.
6. If when the investigation started did not matter, Kissi Agyebeng would not have said it started in December 2023, when the preliminary investigation started in 2025.
7. The OSP listed the SML investigation as one of the cases it worked on in 2025 using funding from the state. So, if the people gave you money to work and it emerges that what you said you used the money for did not happen, it is fair to point it out, especially when the OSP published it in its reports.
8. My role as a journalist is to hold the government and state institutions accountable to the people. I will assist the state institutions, as I have done with the police, AG’s Department, CHRAJ, and the OSP. But when I need to discharge my duty, I will put out the facts and evidence so that Ghanaians can be adequately informed.
9. When AB Adjei-led PPA claimed it has saved Ghana billions of cedis through procurement auditing, I followed up and exposed the institution. When SML claimed it had saved Ghana 3 billion cedis, I followed up and exposed the institution.
10. And it is only fair that I expose the OSP for claiming that it saved Ghana $2.7 billion in the SML scandal when that is false. I have published documents to back my point that the entire contract sum was a little over $500 million, nowhere near $2.7 billion. If anybody has contrary evidence, I challenge them to publish it.
Take your time and read the OSP’s diary of action taken on the SML matter, and make your own conclusion.
