The revelations have provoked sharp condemnation from IMANI Africa and its civil society allies, who are pressing for urgent prosecutions and recovery of lost revenues.

The multinational review, which relied on data from the National Petroleum Authority, Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST), and the Customs Division, uncovered structural flaws that permitted massive revenue losses.

On the gold side, investigators reported the absence of contracts between the Bank of Ghana and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company. This lapse opened the door for weak pricing controls, arbitrary exchange rate practices, and delivery quotas that encouraged gold smuggling.

The report characterised the design of the system as a “deliberate architecture of obfuscation” — an intentional structure to hide leakages and block accountability.

The probe also raised red flags about former BOST officials and a partner company accused of using offshore assets, trade-based money laundering, and fiduciary breaches to exploit the programme.

The petroleum side of G4O was equally fraught. While the government granted tax exemptions worth GHS 7.5 billion, the lack of transparent reconciliation processes left the state vulnerable to an estimated GHS 2.2 billion in revenue losses. Missing records, unchecked exemptions, and BOST’s dominant control over cargoes compounded the risk.

Alarmingly, all international suppliers engaged in the scheme had opaque ownership structures tied to high-risk jurisdictions, including Dubai, Cyprus, and Switzerland.