Airbus scandal: Special Prosecutor takes on unethical lawyers over Interpol Red Notice

The Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has said that his Office made a good case to warrant the Interpol Red Notice for the arrest of four persons in the Airbus scandal.

In a press release Thursday, he said Interpol approved Ghana’s request and subsequently issued a Red Notice for each of the four fugitives wanted for prosecution for their roles.

The Office faced criticism by a section of the public, especially members of the opposition National Democratic Congress who described the reports as “fake” and a schemed attempt to soil the reputation of their flagbearer John Mahama.

In a sharp response, however, Mr. Amidu said: “The SP also later learned and read online that a bunch of young, inexperienced and unethical lawyers was referring to the Red Notices as fake while at the same time heaping insults and attributing unwarranted motives to the person and character of the SP for doing his work as the Special Prosecutor to fight provable corruption”.

The SP also called out the Ghana Police Service to which issued a statement attributing the request for Interpol to issue a red alert notice for the arrest of a brother of the former president, John Mahama, over his alleged role in the Airbus bribery case, to his office.

According to Amidu, the action of the police was extraordinary and unusual, as such arrest notices from Interpol already state the law enforcement agency at whose request it was issued.

The Police administration had noted that Interpol’s Red Alert for the arrest and possible extradition of Samuel Adam Foster, also known as Adam Mahama, and three others, was upon the request of the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

The statement from the Police was meant to clarify earlier reports that suggested that Interpol had issued an arrest warrant for the said individuals.

The Special Prosecutor’s statement issued on Thursday, July 23 further clarified that: “On 17th July 200, it came to the notice of the SP that the Police/CID had usually gone out of its way to issue a news release to the media dated 16th July 2019 on the publication of Interpol Red Notice” informing the public that the Red Notice was issued at the behest of this Office. this office as an independent and active agency took the view that the publication made in its behalf was unusual, extraordinary, needless, and gratuitous as every Interpol red notice states its content the law enforcement agency at whose behest it is issued”.

He further assured the general public that the investigation into the airbus saga has been thorough and has unearthed the commission of other related crimes.

According to the Office, its investigations have shown that some of the players in the scandal engaged in impersonation and forged documents for the acquisition of a Ghanaian passport.

The statement said some of the players portrayed themselves as graduates of the University of Ghana and civil servants and forged other documents.

“The SP wishes to assure the noisemakers that the investigation into the Airbus SE bribery case in Ghana has been so thorough that it has even unearthed suspected commission of other related crimes of impersonation as graduates of the University of Ghana, a civil servant, and forgeries in the application for the acquisition of a Ghanaian passport connected to this bribery case.

“The unethical and touting layers ought to know better than the guarantors of the Ghanaian passport are prima facie abettors of the impersonation and forgeries, as much as the guarantor who claimed falsely to be a civil servant. The passport has relevance to documents employed in facilitating the Airbus SE (Ghana) bribery,” the Special Prosecutor’s office noted in the statement.