Special Prosecutor Tackles New Multimillion-Cedi Corruption Scheme Involving Palm Oil Imports
- The Special Prosecutor is investigating GH¢25.8 million palm oil corruption involving diverted shipments
- Preliminary findings have linked customs officers and operatives to unlawful local market diversion
- The scheme reportedly cost Ghana GH¢10.5 million in lost tax revenue
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The Office of the Special Prosecutor is probing suspected corruption involving the diversion of 50 20-foot containers of palm oil valued at GH¢25.8 million.
The shipment of palm oil had originally been declared as goods in transit to Burkina Faso.
Source: Facebook
According to a statement on Facebook, the consignment was unlawfully diverted into the local market in Ghana without the payment of the required duties and taxes.
Preliminary findings point to the involvement of some customs officers, National Security operatives, and clearing agents.
The alleged scheme is believed to have caused an estimated loss of GH¢10.5 million in tax revenue to the state.
The special prosecutor indicated that the probe stems from an intelligence-led operation conducted in November 2025, which uncovered irregularities surrounding the handling and clearance of the shipment.
This comes after the government announced a ban on transit of commercial quantities of cooking oil through Ghana’s borders, directing that all such consignments must henceforth be routed exclusively through the country’s seaports.
The directive, issued by the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, followed the recent interception of 18 articulated trucks declared for transit to Niger but suspected to be part of a broader transit diversion scheme.
Under the new measure, cooking oil consignments entering Ghana for onward transit to landlocked countries will no longer be permitted to move through land border collection points. Instead, they must be processed exclusively through Ghana’s seaports, where stricter valuation systems, electronic tracking, scanning infrastructure and layered customs controls are operational.
The decision comes shortly after the Minister of Finance, the Deputy Minister, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, the Commissioner-General of GRA, George Kwasi Sarpong, and other high-ranking customs officials visited land borders in the Ketu South Municipality and the Ketu North District.
Source: YEN.com.gh
