Martin Amidu gives 'new' details of Airbus scandal

Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has provided supposed new details of his investigation into the Airbus scandal while he was in office.

In a statement cited by GhanaWeb, Amidu indicated that he withheld many details about the investigation in 2020 because the country was in an election year and due to the sensitivity surrounding the identity of the "Government Official 1" tag in the Airbus Scandal.

The former special prosecutor, who has also served as Attorney General and Minister for Justice, claimed that he withheld details including the role played by former President John Dramani Mahama and his brother Samuel Adam Mahama Foster in the scandal.

"Does the fact that a court of law heard the charges against Samuel Adam Mahama Foster and his UK friends in the Airbus SE-Ghana case and issued an arrest warrant for them, resulting in the INTERPOL Red Notice, not signify beyond doubt that Government Official 1 is his elder brother, John Dramani Mahama, who was the Vice-President and later the President of Ghana at the time of the bribery loot of almost €5 million from the public purse?

"I led the Airbus SE investigation and showed the head of investigation at the OSP at the time, then Inspector Mark Karikari and his team, the hotels and leased apartment where Samuel Adam Mahama Foster and his UK friends resided, including the government property sold to Michael Abu Sakara Foster where Samuel Adam Foster claimed as his abode on the forms he filled at the Ghana Immigration Service at the Kotoka International Airport upon his first entry into Ghana with his UK friends," Martin Amidu wrote.

He added, "Apart from acquiring all the immigration records of entry and departure from Ghana of Samuel Adam Mahama Foster and his UK friends as part of the Airbus SE-Ghana corruption investigation, I managed to secure bank accounts and statements of Samuel Adam Foster as supporting evidence. I also showed the investigation team the office of Abu Sakara Foster at the T-junction at the Adabraka/Kokomlemle junction on the Kojo Thompson Road in case he was required for interrogation. This is how thorough the Airbus SE investigation was conducted by the OSP under my watch before I postponed the investigation to after the 2020 elections to avoid accusations of election interference."

Amidu also said that he refused to invite former President Mahama for interrogation because he didn't want the OSP to be seen "as a tool of political electioneering campaign on behalf of the NPP government."

He dared the former president and his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to reopen the investigation and invite "Scotland Yard" if they indeed claim to have committed no wrong should they come to power again.

"Asiedu Nketiah and John Mahama, if you claim to be incorruptible, kindly make a promise to Ghanaians that should you win the 2024 elections, you will invite Scotland Yard to conduct an investigation into the Airbus SE-Ghana scandal in which the American, British, French, and Spanish Governments already identified Government Official 1 as Samuel Adam Mahama Foster’s elder brother who served as Vice-President and President of Ghana."

About the Airbus Scandal:

Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, was alleged to have paid bribes in Ghana when it sold three military aircraft.

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 to 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.

Former President John Dramani Mahama was one of the government officials implicated in the scandal, with the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, alleging that the "Government Official One" label in the scandal referred to the former president.

Amidu, in an epistle while in office as Special Prosecutor, revealed how John Mahama allegedly used his office to guarantee a Ghanaian passport for his brother Samuel Adam Mahama.

Martin Amidu said, "Amongst other reasons for the letter to the said Ministry, Samuel Adam Mahama's elder brother of full blood, who without a doubt and the evidence available to this Office answers to the description of the elected Government Official 1, allegedly granted a denial interview to the Daily Graphic which published the same on June 20, 2020, fortunately containing suspected admissions that he is the elected Government Official 1 referred to in the UK judgement.

"Serving appointees of this government have been unable to obtain the voice recording of this interview to enable the Office to confront the former president with his own admissions in the interview as answering to the description of the brother of Samuel Adam Mahama as Intermediary 5."

John Mahama, however, denied the allegations and challenged Amidu, who was in office at the time, to prosecute him if he was indeed the said Government Official One.

Read Amidu's full statement below:



BAI/ ADG

Watch the latest Episode of Everyday People below:





Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.