A forensic risk assessment of Ghana’s Gold-for-Oil (G4O) programme has uncovered extensive fiscal leakages, systemic fraud, and deep governance failures—findings that have triggered urgent demands for prosecutions and recovery of stolen revenues from IMANI Africa and a coalition of oversight bodies.

The multinational review, drawing on records from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), and Customs, revealed troubling patterns of opacity, preferential access, and loopholes that enabled huge revenue losses.

On the gold side, investigators found that the Bank of Ghana failed to establish binding contracts with the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC). This gap allowed discretionary exchange rate practices, weak pricing controls, and mandatory delivery quotas that incentivised smuggling.

The report described the system as a “deliberate architecture of obfuscation” designed to conceal leakages and frustrate oversight.

Concerns were also raised about former BOST officials and a related company accused of using undisclosed offshore accounts, trade-based money laundering, and fiduciary breaches to exploit the programme.

The petroleum side of the initiative was equally alarming. Investigators highlighted missing documentation, unchecked import exemptions, and BOST’s outsized control over cargoes. While GHS 7.5 billion worth of import tax exemptions were granted, the absence of transparent reconciliation downstream left the state vulnerable to revenue losses estimated at GHS 2 billion.

Moreover, all international suppliers under the G4O scheme were found to have opaque ownership structures and links to high-risk jurisdictions, including Dubai, Cyprus, and Switzerland.

Dr. Ishmael Evans Yamson, Chairman of Ishmael Yamson & Associates, described the revelations as “frightening,” warning that the scheme had worsened Ghana’s economic crisis.

“The people, companies, and institutions behind this brazen attack on Ghana’s future must not get away with murder,” he said, calling for ruthless accountability.

IMANI Africa’s leadership went further. President Franklin Cudjoe said the assessment confirmed the think tank’s longstanding warnings.

“This programme was weaponised against the state. Ghana must now pursue uncompromising forensic audits and criminal prosecutions—not just to recover billions in lost revenue, but to send a clear message that predatory exploitation of public policy will no longer be tolerated,” he stressed.

Vice President Bright Simons was even more scathing, dismissing the initiative as political theatre.

“The grand pageantry around a very simple idea was meant only to disguise shady underhand dealings. Millions of dollars were siphoned into private pockets while politicians cashed in on the PR. There was nothing innovative about G4O—only layers of distraction,” he remarked.

The coalition of watchdogs is pressing for sweeping remedial measures, including:


  • A vessel-by-vessel and ounce-by-ounce forensic audit


  • Criminal prosecutions of implicated officials and companies


  • Retroactive tax clawbacks


  • Mandatory quarterly publication of all G4O contracts, benchmarks, and reconciliation reports

“The Gold-for-Oil programme has not only drained state coffers but also inflicted serious reputational damage on Ghana internationally,” IMANI warned. “Delay in enforcing accountability amounts to complicity. The time for decisive action is now.”