Airbus scandal: Ghanaians really entertain 'useless issues' – Sammy Gyamfi rants

Communications Officer for the National Democratic Congress [NDC], Samuel Gyamfi, has ripped into Ghanaians accusing them of easily entertaining frivolous issues without recourse to the facts.

The outspoken NDC communicator was speaking to the brouhaha generated by the current Airbus bribery saga.

Reports of a bribery scandal emerged over the weekend citing Ghana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Taiwan as destinations where Airbus, the largest aerospace multinational in Europe, admitted that it paid huge bribes in order to secure contracts.

The Crown Court at Southwark in the United Kingdom passed judgment on 31st January 2020, between the Director of the Serious Fraud Office and Airbus SE, in which the European multinational aerospace corporation was fined $3.9 billion for the payment of bribes to secure deals in the five countries named Ghana.

The London High Court found Airbus guilty and imposed a fine of three billion pounds (£3bn) as penalties.

Airbus was charged with five counts of failing to prevent bribery, having used a network of secret agents to pay large-scale backhanders to officials in foreign countries to land high-value contracts.

In the case of Ghana, the operations were reported to have taken place between 2009 and 2015; during which period John Dramani Mahama served as Vice President and then later as President.

According to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Airbus hired and disguised payments to a close relative of a government official in Ghana with no aerospace experience in connection with a sale of military transport planes.

Incidently, no names were however mentioned in the report.

Clearly impressed with the finger-pointing directed at his party's flagbearer, Sammy Gyamfi in a fit of anger exploded that there is no credible facts to conclude the ‘Government Official 1’ cited in the airbus ruling was former President John Dramani Mahama as being bandied about by the ruling New Patriotic Party [NPP].

“Let me be very blunt, Ghanaians entertain useless issues,” he told Akwasi Aboagye, host of NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’ in an interview.

Listen to interview...