Mahama not co-operating in Airbus scandal probe – Dame

Former President John Dramani and some other officials of the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration are not co-operating with investigators currently probing the airbus scandal, a Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has said.

He has challenged Mr Mahama to speak out on the matter.

Mr Dame said on Tuesday that: “I believe that the identities of the government officials mentioned in the scandal is quite clear. One important lesson to be drawn from the scandal is the prosecution process…There is a reluctance from certain persons to admit the fact."

“The key government actors who engaged in the transaction are still around and I insist there was a Vice President who later on transformed into a President and he is around and still campaigning to hold public office and I am saying in accordance to accountability even if he was not involved, he ought to open up to the full fact because the transition occurred under his tenure."

“Many of the senior government officials involved in the purchase of the aircraft are still around but continue to maintain deafening silence to the exquisite findings of the crown court in the UK."

“At least there was a sitting vice president who transitioned to a Presidency while maintaining his silence contrary to the tenets of accountability, he is rather remarkably campaigning for votes from the same people whom he does not want to BE accountable to on the airbus scandal. There was a minister of defence, and there was an attorney general at all material times.”

He added, “I’m of the respectful view that in the spirit of accountability to the people, probity and accountability and transparency one would have expected that those key government functionaries who were involved in the transaction to self-report voluntarily to help with the investigation directed by the President”.



Airbus saga

A judgment from the Crown Court at Southwark, UK, indicted Ghana alleging that contrary to section 7 of the UK’s Bribery Act2010, Airbus failed to prevent its close associates or persons associated with them from “bribing others concerned with the purchase of military transport aircraft by the Government of Ghana, where the said bribery was intended to obtain or retain advantages in the conduct of business.”

The document stated that the bribery allegation took place between 2009 and 2015 where the European aviation giant engaged the services of a close relative of a high-ranking elected Ghanaian government official who served as an intermediary to facilitate the sale of three military transport aircraft to the government of Ghana.

“A number of Airbus employees knew that the intermediary was a close relative of Government Official 1, who was a key decision-maker in respect of the proposed sales.

“A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million to Intermediary 5”, the document continued.

Also, the document pointed out that “false documentation was created by or with the agreement of Airbus employees in order to support and disguise these payments. The payments were intended to induce or reward “improper favor” by Government Official 1 toward Airbus.

Payments were eventually stopped due to the arrangement failing the due diligence processes required by the Liquidation Committee.