OSP is not inferior to international counterparts – Special Prosecutor replies critics

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has rebuffed claims that investigations into the Airbus Saga would have proven official 1, Former President John Dramani Mahama guilty of bribery if it had sought detailed correspondence with UK and US judicial and investigative officers.

The Communications Wing of the New Patriotic Party and the Ernest Owusu Bempah led Fixing the Country Movement, have described the exoneration of Mr. Mahama and his brother in any allegations of bribery concerning the purchase of some military transportation aircrafts from Airbus, as shoddy.

The Fixing the Country Movement has consequently made demands including a public enquiry and a reinvestigation of the allegations insisting court documents from the United States of America and the United Kingdom pointed to bribery against the two, their associates and assigns.

In a written response forwarded to the Ultimate FM Breakfast Team, the OSP’s Director, Strategy, Research & Communication Samuel Appiah Darko pointed the critics to relevant portions of the OSP’s comprehensive report which answers all the questions raised in their media engagements.

“The OSP thoroughly reviewed and analysed the UK and US judgments, which are reproduced in detail in the OSP report. The individuals investigated by the OSP have not faced charges or trial for bribery in nearly 4 or 5 years and were not included in the DPA. The DPA only contains Airbus’s responses,” the statement noted.

On the allegations of bribery, the OSP contends that no authority of the courts nor the Serious Fraud Office have provided a shred of evidence to support the claim that resulted in the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with Airbus.

“The OSP engaged with foreign investigative and prosecutorial authorities through the mutual legal assistance framework, requesting evidence from UK and US authorities, that led to their bribery conclusion. In four and a half years, no evidence has been provided to the OSP, with authorities repeatedly referring the OSP to the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with Airbus.”

“There is no actual evidence (direct or circumstantial) of bribery. In April 2022, the UK SFO wrote to the individuals that they would not be prosecuted. And that the SFO may change its mind if it finds new evidence. It means that the UK and US authorities do not have the evidence to prosecute any person. No person has been prosecuted till date,” the statement added.

The statement further cautioned the country against attempting to treat the Office of the Special Prosecutor as subservient to prosecutorial and investigative bodies of other countries especially when the OSP took the pains to go beyond the court documents to find and interrogate persons cited in the Airbus Bribery debacle.

It warned, “The issue isn’t about which investigative authorities are superior. We shouldn’t belittle our investigative bodies or assume they’re inferior to foreign counterparts.”

“The US and UK investigations focused solely on Airbus’s perspective and did not involve questioning the individuals concerned. The OSP’s investigation was more comprehensive, as it tracked and questioned the individuals involved. Concluding bribery solely based on Airbus’s testimony is flawed,” the OSP elucidated.

Clarifying purposes for which Samuel Foster Mahama received payments regarding the transaction, the OSP explained that the said amounts advanced were consistent with Airbus’ commissions awarded to its agents and commercial partners on successful execution of sales campaigns.

“The arrangement between Airbus and JM’s brother was an agency agreement involving a success-based commission for the sale of planes. The arrangement was an agency agreement between Airbus and agents referred to as Business Partners.”

“Typically, Airbus paid its business partners a 5% commission based on the cost of the planes. For example, if a plane cost $20 million, the commission would be $1 million. This same arrangement applied to JM’s brother, who acted as an agent for Airbus. The two planes involved were highly expensive military transport planes, so the significant amount paid by Airbus to JM’s brother represented 5% of the total cost of both planes,” the statement elucidated.

Meanwhile the Fixing the Country Movement has served notice it will begin a series of public expressions if the president Nana Akuffo-Addo does not reconstitute a reinvestigation into the saga.

According to the group, the special prosecutor failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity “to draw a final line under the darkest chapter of the Mahama years”.