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The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has officially exonerated former President John Mahama from any corruption allegations in connection with the Airbus bribery scandal.
In 2020, former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu had named Mr. Mahama as the enigmatic ‘Government Official 1’ involved in the scandal surrounding the procurement of aircraft from Airbus for the Government of Ghana.
Despite Mahama’s firm denials, members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) persisted in claiming his involvement in the scandal.
However, four years later, the current Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has provided clarity in his latest update on the case. During a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Agyebeng confirmed that his office found “no evidence” of corruption involving the former President or his UK-based brother, Adam Mahama.
“The OSP investigation found no evidence that former President Mahama was involved or played any role in the procurement and maintenance of the agency relationship between Airbus and Foster and his associates in respect of the purchase by the Government of Ghana of military transport aircraft from Airbus,” Mr. Agyebeng stated.
He further elaborated, “It also appears that Foster and his associates became involved as intermediaries in the Airbus-Ghana deal after the decision by the Government of Ghana to prefer the C-295 aircraft. Therefore, it seems that Foster’s Airbus intermediary role at the time his brother served as the Vice President of Ghana was a case of luckless coincidence that attracted the disapproval of the UK and US authorities.”
The Special Prosecutor concluded by stating, “The OSP found no evidence that suggests that the involvement of Foster as an intermediary of Airbus and the direct communications and meetings between former President Mahama and officials of Airbus to close the deal between Airbus and the Government of Ghana amounted to any corruption and corruption-related offence in respect of which the OSP has a mandate.”
Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu had initiated the investigations in 2020 concerning the agreement during Mahama’s administration to procure two military transport aircraft from Airbus for the Ghana Armed Forces.
At the time, both John Dramani Mahama and his brother Samuel Adam Mahama Foster were alleged to be entangled in the scandal. A UK court had even heard charges against Samuel Adam Mahama Foster and his UK associates, leading to an INTERPOL Red Notice.
SOURCE: DAILY MAIL GH
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