SML takes OSP to court, demands return of seized equipment and US$28.8m, GH¢20m compensation

Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) has taken legal action against the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), demanding the return of several company assets allegedly seized by the anti-corruption body and seeking more than US$28.8 million and GH¢20 million in damages.

 The suit, filed at the High Court in Accra, names the OSP as the sole defendant. The writ, issued under the authority of the Chief Justice of Ghana on November 10, 2025, compels the OSP to enter an appearance within eight days of service or risk judgment being entered against it in default.

SML alleges that the OSP unlawfully detained its operational equipment, including servers, storage devices, mineral analysis tools, and computer systems. The company insists that the seized assets are vital to its work and form part of its proprietary digital infrastructure used for state revenue monitoring.

In the statement of claim, SML, is asking the court for a declaration that “the detention of the Plaintiff’s servers, SAN storage, SML Nova Mineral Analyzer, SML Nova Mineral Scale, CCTV systems, computers, laptops, external hard drives, mobile phones, and printers by the Defendant is unlawful.”

The company also wants an order compelling the OSP to return all the seized items immediately. In addition, it is demanding special damages of US$28,850,125.50, representing the cost of the servers, SAN storage, installation and reprogramming, the communication layers of 25 depots, the transaction audit suite, the petroleum upstream Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, and the solid minerals suite linked to the central server.

SML further seeks general damages of GH¢20,000,000, claiming the seizure has severely disrupted its operations. The company argued that its systems, which were designed to support the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in real-time monitoring of petroleum and mineral transactions, have been crippled since the OSP’s actions.

A part of the writ reads: “The Defendant’s conduct in detaining the Plaintiff’s equipment without lawful authority has occasioned immense financial loss, operational paralysis, and reputational damage to the Plaintiff.”

The case comes amid heightened attention surrounding SML’s contract with the GRA for downstream petroleum audit and monitoring services. The OSP recently presented the conclusion of its investigations into  SML’s contract with the GRA, with the anti-graft agency seeking to retrieve at least GH¢125 million from SML.

On June 10, 2025, operatives from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), with support from personnel of the National Security Secretariat, carried out a coordinated raid simultaneously at the Osu and Tema offices of SML. The OSP is yet to file a defence or comment publicly on the suit.

Established under Act 959, the OSP is empowered to investigate and prosecute corruption-related offences involving public officers, politically exposed persons, and private entities. SML insists it has cooperated fully with every lawful process and the continuous detention of its equipment without a valid court order is a breach of the rule of law and must be corrected.

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