Airbus Scandal: John Mahama Confirmed as Government Official 1
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has confirmed former President John Dramani Mahama as Government official one in the Airbus Scandal, bringing to an end years of speculations.
This was during a press conference on August 8, 2024, after concluding investigations on the scandal by the Special prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng.
“The OSP confirms the identity of the following individuals. The individual described as Government official 1 by the UK court and individual one by the US court is John Dramani Mahama. He is a citizen of Ghana and was the Vice-president of Ghana from 7 January 2009 to 24 July 2012,” the OSP stated.
He also confirmed that Foster Adam Mahama, a brother of the former President, was the intermediary between Airbus and Ghana in the transaction for three military aircrafts.
The SP, however exonerated them of any wrongdoing contrary to the conclusion of the prosecution by the United States and the United Kingdom.
Airbus Saga
UK court in 2020 fined Airbus SE, a subsidiary of Airbus, an amount of £3 billion for bribing its way to lucrative contracts in countries such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Indonesia and Ghana.
Investigations by the United States Department of Justice (DoG) found that a dubious act played out in Ghana’s purchase of three Military Airplanes – C295s – from Airbus between 2009 and 2015.
It was found that Airbus hired the brother of a top elected Ghanaian official as its consultant to manoeuvre its way into selling the aircraft to the country.
The firm also confessed to paying the said consultant through a third party when its Compliance Unit spotted the close relationship between the consultant and the top elected official, who was a key decision-maker in the purchase of the military aircraft.
“In fact, Airbus and its vendors had paid, offered or agreed to pay political contributions, fees or commissions in connection with these sales in the amount of at least €3,596,523. Individual 1 was influential in having the government of Ghana approve aircraft purchases and Individual 1 contacted Airbus senior executives during the government approval process. In 2011, during Individual 1’s time in office, the Ghanaian Parliament approved the purchase of C-295 aircraft,” the facts, as presented by the DOJ to the District Court in the USA, said according to Graphic.
“Airbus purposefully sought to engage Consultant 4 due to his closeness to Individual 1, and the Airbus management included Consultant 4 in its communications with Individual 1. Airbus used Consultant 4 as a conduit for messages intended for Individual 1. Consultant 4 traded on his access to Individual 1,” the DOJ said.
