Airbus scandal: Confess you’re Government official 1 – Majority Leader tells Mahama

The Majority Leader in Ghana’s parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu says the implicated ‘government official 1’ in the Airbus bribery scandal is ex-President John Dramani Mahama and that he must openly confess to that, MyNewsGh.com reports.

In a media interview monitored by MyNewsGh.com, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, while urging the Special Prosecutor’s outfit probing the matter to work in partnership with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the Attorney General’s (AG) department, said he has no doubt that the [famous] ‘government official 1’ who has now become a social media sensation is John Mahama, the ex-Ghanaian leader.

He demanded of the Special Prosecutor to get answers for Ghanaians on the matter especially for the then Mahama led National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) administration to tell us the cost of packing the Airbuses at the Kotoka airport for two years.

“The Ghana Civil Aviation are not Father Christmas so surely they will take money for the Airbus being packed at the airport. They should be able to tell us all the payments they made for packing the Airbuses at the airport.”

“There are too many unanswered questions but just as I raised suspicion in 2011, I still remain confident without a doubt that ‘government official 1’ is John Mahama.” He answered to a question posed by the media to ascertain if he remains unwavered in his 2011 accusation.

According to a USA and UK court documents, Airbus, an European aircraft manufacturer is alleged to have paid bribes to top government officials between 2009 and 2015 under the erstwhile John Mahama administration when it sold three military aircrafts to the country.

Airbus had been under investigations by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the UK and the Parquet National Financier (PNF) of France.

This came to light after nearly four years of investigations by authorities in the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK) and France into the business operations of Airbus, which culminated in the company being fined $3.9 billion for its corrupt practices in Ghana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Taiwan within the same period.

The aerospace multinational admitted hiring the brother of a top elected Ghanaian official as its consultant for the pitch to sell the aircraft to the country.

Also, Airbus confessed paying the said consultant through a third party when its Compliance Unit raised red flags about the close relationship between the consultant and the top elected official, who was a key decision-maker in the purchase of the military aircraft.

The Majority leader who was then the Minority leader in parliament in 2011, raised suspicion of fraud in the House and wrote to the three centres involved in the purchase, the one in Brazil, Spain and finally in France but hit a roadblock in all of them.

He is confident that a strong parliament then would’ve challenged the NDC’s government moves for the purchase of the aircrafts urging ex-President Mahama to open himself up for the institutions [Special Prosecutor, EOCO, and Auditor General] to probe him.

“I think if President John Mahama is committed to transparency and accountability, he should open himself up for these institutions [Special Prosecutor, EOCO, and Auditor General] to probe into it.”