James Kwabena Bomfeh has waded into discussions on the Special Prosecutor's report on Airbus corruption scandal involving former President and presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama.
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, in his report released days ago, exonerated John Mahama from the scandal although he identified the latter as the "Governor Official 1" cited during investigations by foreign authorities into the scandal.
Airbus
Airbus, an European aircraft manufacturer, was alleged to have paid bribes in Ghana in the sale of three military aircraft to the country.
The allegations came to light after a series of investigations and prosecutions of Airbus by the US, the UK and France authorities, compelling President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to refer the case to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations.
Airbus, after almost 4 years of investigations by US, UK and France authorities, was fined $3.9 billion for its corrupt practices in Ghana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Taiwan.
During the investigations, Mahama’s name popped up when Airbus was said to have bribed a high-profile figure in Ghana referred to as “Governor Official 1” in the documents.
Although Mr. Mahama initially denied being the one named “Governor Official 1”, the OSP’s report has identified him as such but says he did no wrong.
“The OSP found no evidentiary basis that suggests that former President John Dramani Mahama or any other public official was induced to improperly favour or did improperly favour Airbus in respect of the purchase by the Government of Ghana of military transport aircraft from Airbus”.
“The Special Prosecutor has directed the closure of the OSP investigation into alleged bribery of high-ranking Ghanaian officials by Airbus SE, through intermediaries, in respect of the sale of military transport aircraft by Airbus SE to the Republic of Ghana between 2009 and 2015”, it stated.
Kabilla's Reply
James Kwabena Bomfeh, popularly called "Kabilla", commenting on the issue during Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" show, urged the parties which have suspicions on the report to proceed to court.
"If there is suspicion of an offence, let's go through the proper investigations and let the Attorney-General deal with the matter", the former CPP General Secretary replied.
He however challenged the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor "if any of the people who are charged with offences by the OSP gather courage and travel to the Supreme Court like someone did in Kenya in 2000, that office may not survive".
