The Director of Legal Affairs of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lawyer Edudzi Tameklo, has argued that the government has set a new precedent by subjecting former President John Dramani Mahama to investigation in the Airbus bribery scandal. According to him, the outcome of the long-standing investigation proves that former presidents can now be probed.
His comments came just hours after the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) exonerated former President Mahama from any wrongdoing in the infamous Airbus scandal, following years of investigation ordered by the President.
In a social media post, Mr. Tameklo wrote “Mr. Akufo-Addo out of vindictiveness and arrogance, has set a new precedent. A former President and his family members can be investigated.”
How Akufo Addo ordered OSP to investigate Mahama
On Sunday, February 2, 2020, a statement from the presidency stated that President Akufo-Addo had referred the Airbus scandal to the OSP for further investigation.
“The attention of the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been drawn to a 31st January, 2020 judgement of the Crown Court at Southwark, in the United Kingdom, between the Director of the Serious Fraud Office and Airbus SE, in which the European multinational aerospace corporation has been fined $3.9 billion for the payment of bribes to secure deals in five countries, including Ghana.
“According to the Statement of Facts in the case, between 2009 and 2015, “a number of Airbus employees made or promised success based commission payments of approximately €5 million to Intermediary 5”, who is said to be “a close relative of a high ranking elected Ghanaian Government official (Government Official 1),” part of the statement read.
The statement continued “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.
Outcome of investigation
However, after four years of investigation, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, cleared the former President of any wrongdoing, saying “The OSP found no evidentiary basis that suggests that former President John Dramani Mahama or any other public official was induced to improperly favour or did improperly favour Airbus in respect of the purchase by the Government of Ghana of military transport aircraft from Airbus.”
