By Prince Ahenkorah
A confidential international forensic risk assessment of Ghana’s Gold-for-Oil (G4O) programme, has revealed deep fiscal leakages and governance failures, sparking urgent calls from IMANI Africa and allied oversight institutions for immediate government action.
The assessment, which drew on authoritative data from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), and the Customs Division, uncovered a troubling pattern of opacity, preferential access, and structural loopholes that undermined the programme.
Designed to stabilize foreign exchange reserves, G4O was instead compromised by systemic weaknesses that enabled revenue loss and possible illicit enrichment.
The forensic review revealed that the gold barter leg of the programme was run without foundational contracts between the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC).
This lack of governance allowed inconsistent application of London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) pricing, weak oversight on assays, and discretionary exchange rate practices that opened avenues for arbitrage and hidden value transfers.
Mandatory gold delivery quotas, meanwhile, distorted the market and incentivized smuggling and quality manipulation, further depriving the state of value.
Investigators described these failures not as simple lapses but as evidence of a deliberate architecture of confusion crafted to frustrate oversight and conceal fiscal leakages.
A supplementary brief pointed fingers at former BOST officials and an allied company alleged to have played central roles in exploiting the programme. Evidence linked them to undisclosed offshore assets, possible trade-based money laundering, and breaches of fiduciary duty.
On the fuel import side, the report identified systemic revenue leakages. While about GHS 7.5 billion in import tax exemptions were lawfully granted, the absence of transparent reconciliation downstream left the state exposed to estimated losses of GHS 7.2 billion.
Missing documentation, untracked exemptions, and BOST’s dominant control over G4O cargoes created conditions ripe for abuse.
The forensic review also raised red flags about international suppliers selected for the programme, pointing to opaque ownership structures and past links to sanction-sensitive trading flows and money-laundering networks in jurisdictions such as Dubai, Cyprus, and Switzerland.
The revelations drew strong reactions from key voices. Dr. Ishmael Evans Yamson, Chairman of Ishmael Yamson & Associates and of the recent National Economic Dialogue, warned that G4O epitomized the pattern of initiatives presented as solutions to Ghana’s economic woes but often designed to benefit a few at the expense of the nation.
“The revelations are frightening and clearly demonstrate how people in government have connived with suspected foreign and local criminal agents to undermine Ghana’s development efforts. The people, companies and institutions involved should not get away with murder,” he said, urging government to act ruthlessly against all culprits.
IMANI’s Founding President and CEO, Franklin Cudjoe, echoed this sentiment, stressing that the programme was systematically weaponized against the state. “The convergence of opaque supplier selection, missing audit trails, and deliberate regulatory blind spots has turned a purported foreign exchange stabilization scheme into a sophisticated conduit for illicit financial flows and grand corruption. Ghana must now pursue an uncompromising forensic audit and criminal prosecutions; not just to recover stolen billions, but to signal that such predatory exploitation of public policy will no longer be tolerated,” he declared.
IMANI’s Honorary Vice President, Bright Simons, described the scheme as an exercise in deception. “The grand pageantry around a very simple idea of using forex earned from exporting gold to import refined fuel was done purely to hide shady underhand dealings. That way millions of dollars could flow into private pockets whilst politicians reaped massive PR benefits. Distracted citizens could, thus, not follow the money. There was nothing innovative about G4O, except these schemes of distraction,” he said.
In response to the findings, IMANI Africa and its partners are calling on the President, the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Auditor-General, and law enforcement agencies to commission a comprehensive forensic audit tracing every vessel, ounce of gold, and litre of fuel involved in the programme.
They further demand retroactive tax assessments, recovery of lost revenues, criminal prosecutions, and quarterly publication of all contracts, pricing benchmarks, and reconciliation reports subject to independent audit.
The Gold-for-Oil programme, once hailed as a stabilization measure, has now exposed Ghana to vast fiscal erosion and reputational risk on the international stage. IMANI’s position is that any delay in enforcing accountability will amount to complicity.
The think tank insists the time for decisive recovery of revenues, restoration of institutional integrity, and punishment of culpable actors is now!!!