Airbus corruption saga : OSP’s investigation of Mahama was a total whitewash
Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, please accept the compliment of the entire membership of the Fixing the Country Movement.
We have assembled you here today to register our displeasure about the relaxed conclusions reached by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) on the Airbus corruption scandal involving former President John Mahama.
Fixing the Country Movement strongly believes that the entire OSP investigation into the Airbus corruption scandal is worse than a whitewash.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, the truth has been painfully extracted one inch, at considerable public expense on the Airbus corruption investigation by the OSP.
We utterly reject anything that looks like the OSP playing mind games with the good people of Ghana.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, outside of this Shakespearean drama and expensive national disgrace by the OSP, this case has already seen the light of day in both the UK and US.
As you may all be aware, it has been over three years when Airbus SE, a global provider of civilian and military aircraft based in France, agreed to pay combined penalties of nearly $4billion to resolve foreign bribery charges with authorities in the United States, France and the United Kingdom arising out of the Company’s scheme to use third-party business partners to bribe government officials around the world.
According to admissions and court documents, beginning in at least 2008 and continuing until at least 2015, Airbus engaged in and facilitated a scheme to offer and pay bribes to decision makers and other influencers, including foreign officials, in order to obtain improper business advantages and win lucrative contracts in several countries including Ghana.
As a matter of fact, judicial records made public on 31 January 2020 by the British and American authorities, which Airbus acknowledges to be true, shows that between 2009 and 2015 an Airbus subsidiary specialising in the defence sector hired the brother of a high-ranking Ghanaian elected official(Government Official 1), as well as a friend of the said brother and a third person to serve as commercial partners in the sale of three military transport aircraft, model C295, to Ghana.
Ladies and gentlemen, it turned out that Philip Middlemiss, a renowned British actor, Leanne Davis and John Mahama’s brother, Samuel Adam Mahama were the intermediaries between Airbus and former President Mahama, otherwise known as Government Official I as identified by the US and UK authorities.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, the Airbus corruption is the biggest corruption case ever. Indeed, payment of bribes were made and received and the beneficiary was GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL 1.
In fact, documents were falsified in making the payments to disguise the payment of bribes to GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL 1.
Paragraph 136 of the US Court documents actually described Government official I as having a reputation for bribe taking.
It reads:
“Government Official 1” had such a reputation as a prolific bribe-collector that within three weeks of the election of the incoming Government, AND BEFORE IT WAS SWORN IN, Airbus reached agreement with brother of “Government Official 1,” described in the US version of Court documents as “Individual 1.”
Interestingly, the British judge in charge of the case found that Airbus had sought, through these kickbacks, to obtain an “undue favour” from a member of the Ghanaian government.
As a result, Ghana bought three Airbus C295 military transport aircraft – two in 2011 and another in 2015, all under the presidency of Mills/Mahama.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, the UK court documents also revealed that the intermediaries established a company in Ghana in December 2009 and that a company with the same name was established in the United Kingdom in February of the following year.
The Ghanaian company they looked into was owned by the brother of Mr Mahama, and a British television actor who had publicly claimed to be the “best friend” of John Mahama.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, who had found the Airbus corruption credible enough to open an investigation in February 2020, announced that he had summoned four “suspects,” Philip Middlemiss and his collaborator Sarah Furneaux, as well as Leanne Davis and Samuel Adam Mahama.
Respectfully, everyone who is privy to the core details of the series of court documents published by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the United Kingdom cannot allege ignorance of the persons who have brought our nation into this international shame.
In essence, the whole purpose of the OSP inquiry into the Airbus corruption was meant to be drawing a final line under the darkest chapter of the Mahama years – a once and for all chance, to get to the bottom of what happened.
The OSP’s job was simply to get the culprits to answer the charges against them and not to engage in whitewashing as he has done here.
Heaven knows it is a chance to be seized. But the OSP would rather whitewash the entire process, even when Airbus had already accepted the complicity of it’s officials hence the deferred prosecution agreement by the US Department of Justice and UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
In all honesty, Fixing the Country Movement holds the view that Mr Mahama and his brother Adam Mahama have a lot of questions to answer and as such we want to put on record that the OSP erred in law in its judgment on the matter.
Rather than trying to clear Mahama of any corruption related offences, the OSP must revisit this matter in the interest of public accountability and accountable governance.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, this shoddy work by Kissi Agyabeng his office is more of a political theatre and reputation management of Mr Mahama and it cannot be allowed to stand.
The case has also raised broader questions about the integrity of Kissi Agyabeng as the Special Prosecutor. The OSP’s inadequacies has been exposed with this investigations.
The OSP could have done a better job than it did with the powers it has and the resources available to his office.
The Ghanaian public deserves better: we need an independent scientific evaluation to challenge the simplifications and misjudgments of the OSP.
We call on the British High Commission and the US Embassy to take active interest in this matter and forward their findings to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO)
We also call on the relevant authorities to institute a public inquiry into the Airbus corruption, and to afford former President John Mahama the opportunity to defend himself in the full glare of the public.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we believe in public accountability and want to reiterate the point that no one is above accountability.
Mahama is corrupt, and the OSP cannot declare him as Government Official One and turned around and say he has no case to answer.
We urge the OSP to come again. Fixing the Country Movement is indeed asking the OSP to reinvestigate the entire bribery scheme.
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, if after 14 days from today, there’s no action in this regards by the OSP, Fixing the Country Movement will organise a public action to demand for the head of the OSP.
Ghana deserves better.
Let’s all say no to corruption.
Thank you for your indulgence
Signed:
Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah Bonsu (Convener – Fixing the Country Movement