The Office of the Special Prosecutor has declared former President John Dramani Mahama not guilty of the controversial Airbus bribery scandal.
According to the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, there is no evidence to suggest that former President Mahama was involved in an act of bribery.
He said this at a press conference in Accra on Thursday.
In 2020, former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu accused Mr Mahama as the mysterious ‘Government Official 1’ in the scandal that towed the procurement of aircraft from manufacturer Airbus for the government of Ghana.
Although Mr. Mahama has denied these allegations, members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) continue to assert that the former president was implicated in the bribery scandal.
Four years on, the current Special Prosecutor, Mr. Agyebeng, has clarified the situation in his recent update regarding the Airbus bribery case, stating that neither the former president nor his brother, Adam Mahama, who resides in the UK, received any bribes.
“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. And it appears to the OSP that the direct communications and meetings between former President Mahama and officials of Airbus to close the deal were actuated by good intentions on the part of the former.
“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 in preference of 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 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 offences in respect of which the OSP has a mandate.
“However, it ought reasonably to have occurred to former President Mahama and the Government of Ghana that the familial relationship between former President Mahama and Foster and the direct participation by former President
Mahama in the communications and meetings with Airbus officials were bound to raise reasonable suspicions of improper conduct and dealings notwithstanding any claims to good faith conduct and above board dealings, especially in light of the fact that during the first Airbus campaign, former President Mahama was the Chairman of the Armed Forces Council by reason of his position as the Vice President – and therefore a key decision-maker,” the OSP noted while addressing the public on the Airbus scandal findings on Thursday, August 8, 2024.
