Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has disclosed that his office has only suspended an invitation to former President John Dramani Mahama in relation to the Airbus corruption issue because the former President is a Presidential candidate of the largest opposition party.
According to Mr. Amidu, the Office of the Special Prosecutor has established that the National Democratic Congress flagbearer is Government Official 1 as captured in investigative reports on the matter of an alleged act of corruption in the Airbus SE-Ghana Bribery Scandal involving the then Government of Ghana.
“This Office has established the identity of elected Government official 1 to be former President John Dramani Mahama whose brother of the full blood is Samuel Adam Foster also known as Samuel Adam Mahama. The only reason the former President has not been invited for interrogation (in spite of all the threats from his followers and lawyers) is the fact that he got himself an insurance as the Presidential candidate of the other largest political party in Ghana and prudence dictated that the interrogation be held in abeyance during this election season” he disclosed in a statement detailing how far his office has gone in investigating some issues brought before it.
Mr. Amidu further suggested that he is not perturbed about threats from members of the National Democratic Congress over a possible invitation of Mr. Mahama for questioning.
The Special Prosecutor added that though former President Mahama has made some admissions on the matter in an interview with the Daily Graphic, he has not written voluntarily to the Office of the Special Prosecutor since the investigation commenced.
It would be recalled that former President John Dramani Mahama in an interview with the Daily Graphic in June said “Let me state without any equivocation that no financial benefit accrued to me. Neither was there any form of inducement in the purchase of the aircraft. My singular motivation was to equip and retool the Ghana Armed Forces in a manner that would make the discharge of their national and international roles efficient and less burdensome and for all the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make, they do not deserve less”.
Airbus SE, in February 2020, was fined three billion pounds in penalties by the UK Crown Court of Southwark, London, after admitting it had paid huge bribes to enable it land contracts in 20 countries, including Ghana.
