A recent confidential international forensic risk assessment of Ghana’s Gold-for-Oil (G4O) programme has uncovered significant fiscal leakages and governance failures. The programme, designed to stabilize foreign exchange reserves, was compromised by systemic vulnerabilities that created deliberate corridors for revenue loss and potential illicit enrichment.

The assessment concludes that the programme’s gold leg operated without foundational contracts between the Bank of Ghana and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company, enabling weak pricing controls, discretionary FX practices, and market distortion. This lack of governance allowed for inconsistent application of LBMA pricing, a lack of independent assay oversight, and opportunities for arbitrage and hidden value transfers.

Furthermore, the analysis found that approximately GHS 7.5 billion in import tax exemptions were lawfully granted, but the absence of transparent reconciliation downstream has led to revenue losses estimated at GHS 7.2 billion. Critical anomalies include missing documentation, unchecked exemptions, and BOST’s dominant role in controlling G4O cargoes, which amplified systemic risk and created opportunities for diversion outside the official tax net.

The international suppliers selected for the G4O programme have serious due diligence concerns, exhibiting opaque ownership structures and connections to sanction-sensitive trading flows and money-laundering networks in high-risk jurisdictions like Dubai, Cyprus, and Switzerland.

Reacting to the findings, Dr. Ishmael Evans Yamson, Chairman of Ishmael Yamson & Associates, condemned the programme, stating that it’s one of many initiatives meant to deceive Ghanaians and enrich individuals while deepening economic troubles. Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President and CEO of IMANI Africa, said the forensic assessment confirms IMANI’s longstanding fears that the programme was systematically weaponized against the state.

IMANI Africa and its associates have presented urgent recommendations to the President and Government of Ghana, calling for a comprehensive forensic audit to trace the entire chain of the G4O programme, initiate clawbacks and prosecutions to recover lost revenues, and enforce transparency and reform by mandating quarterly publication of contracts, pricing benchmarks, and reconciliation reports, subject to independent audit.

The coalition emphasizes that delay in enforcing accountability is complicity, and decisive action is necessary to recover lost revenues, restore institutional integrity, and hold the architects of this scheme accountable .