Airbus Scandal: Ghanaians hunt for Government official 1, Intermediary 5&8

Following revelations by plane manufacturer Airbus, that it had an elaborate scheme that paid some €5 million to officials under the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, mainly through a close relative to a key elected government official at the time the bribe was paid, some Ghanaians who are curious to know the officials involved are digging deeper into clues provided by the company in court documents.

Some comments on social media suggest that the close relative of the elected Ghanaian Government Official who the court documents say is a UK national born in Ghana, could be a relation to a powerful person in government at the time while the government official is the said official himself who at the time may have played a key role in negotiations for the purchase of the two planes which began in 2009.

Activists of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), keen to score political points, have been busy accusing former President John Mahama and his brother as the ones referred to in the court documents even though the documents have named no one.

Their assertions come from the court ruling which reads in part, “Between 2009 and 2015 an Airbus defence company engaged Intermediary 5, a close relative of a high ranking elected Ghanaian Government official (Government Official 1) as its BP in respect of the proposed sale of three military transport aircraft to the Government of Ghana. A number of Airbus employees knew that Intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Official 1,w ho was a key decision maker in respect of the proposed sales.

A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million to Intermediary 5. False documentation was created by or with the agreement of Airbus employees in order to support and disguise these payments. The payments were intended to induce or reward “improper favour” by Government Official 1 towards Airbus.”