Management of Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), have clarified that allegations leveled against it by The Fourth Estate via its documentary represents a set of misrepresentations, false claims, and a general lack of understanding on the entire operations of the company.
According to the company, it challenging The Fourth Estate to produce any contract anywhere that is for a 10-year period.
In communique issue by its PR Unit, it said "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"
"Again, it’s not true that SML takes $100 million annually from its contract. The contract, which is yet to be operationalized, per their projections leads them to that claim. The Upstream operations of the company have not yet begun, and no revenue has been realized. No monies have been paid to SML; the $100 million per year payment to SML that has been alleged is purely a figment of the author’s imagination and not factual"
The communique further explained that SML’s engagements with GRA are solely a risk reward contract.
"GRA invests nothing in the entire investment chain. There is no cost commitment from the GRA. SML is not exempted from the payment of duties and taxes. Again 31% of SML’s would be monthly earnings goes to GRA as taxes per the law. A good-intentioned and professional investigation would have established SML’s investments cost and compared to its earnings to make an informed position"
"Again, we challenge him to produce any evidence of wrongdoing in this contract arrangement"
The company further explained that its charging formula are standard in the industry and same are being used by other service providers in the industry.
It further noted that SML’s work forms the base data at the depots for revenue assurance and auditing.
"They declare the base volumes upon which any gap or deficit in the eventual volumes declared will expose those in the chain"
"The downstream petroleum sector's reported figures have significantly increased because of SML over the time; from an average of 350 million liters per month in 2018 and 2019, to 450 million liters per month as of June 2020. This indicates a rise of more than thirtythree percent (33%) in volume reporting, and an average of an extra 100 million litres per month which translates into revenue. Revenue solutions, our business!!!"
"A careful scrutiny of the work of NPA in terms of taking account and reporting the transactions using ERDMS within the downstream petroleum sector would show that it was not adequate and suited in giving revenue assurance to GRA"
It hinted that the NPA system was designed for its operations and was not suited for providing revenue assurance for tax purposes.
"This system additionally assures Customs that no loading activities occur in the depot in their absence. The installed metering system is designed to detect and record the movement of petroleum products at the depots"
"By utilizing this, the GRA can calculate the overall quantity of petroleum products in depots nationwide to gauge revenue, provide Customs with data for reconciliation, and facilitate the tracking of oil movements during inter-depot and inter-tank transfers. Moreover, it aids in identifying leaks and notification of overfills"
The statesment stressed that SML takes pride in its committed and highly skilled technical team, whose combined expertise propels our success in delivering innovative solutions.
"The team's expertise spans across petroleum engineering, process engineering, IT System Engineering, Cybersecurity Engineering, instrumentation, and controls, as well as Electrical and Mechanical Engineering"
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith