Airbus scandal: Akufo-Addo orders Special Prosecutor to probe past gov’t officials

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President Akufo-Addo and special prosecutor Martin Amidu
File photo: President Akufo-Addo and special prosecutor Martin Amidu
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Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo has ordered the country’s special prosecutor Martin Amidu to investigate the Airbus bribery scandal implicating Ghana and other countries.

European aviation giant, Airbus, has confessed to paying huge sums of money as bribe to government officials and persons close to the seat of government during the Mills and Mahama administrations.

Court documents reveal that Ghana is among countries Airbus doled out millions of dollars as bribe between 2011 and 2015 to strike deals through secret agents.

“It was a pervasive and pernicious bribery scheme in various divisions of Airbus SE that went on for a number of years,” US District Judge Thomas Hogan said.

Following the judgment over the weekend, the Ghanaian leader is ordering a legal action against “any such official, as required by Ghanaian law.”

“President Akufo-Addo has taken notice of the judgement and its implications, and has referred it to the Office of Special Prosecutor to collaborate with Its UK counterparts to conduct a prompt inquiry to determine the complicity or otherwise of any Ghanaian government official, past or present, involved in the said scandal, and to take the necessary legal action against any such official, as required by Ghanaian law,” a statement signed by director of communication at the presidency Eugene Arhin said.

Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong

Meanwhile, a former attorney general under the Mahama administration, Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong has denied any wrongdoing on their part, describing local reports as “misleading and false.”

“The reports alleging that Airbus SE paid bribes during the administration of President John Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama are false, misleading and do not reflect the Approved Judgment,” Appiah-Opong said in a statement.

Source: Daily Mail GH

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