Former Attorney General denies involvement of Mills, Mahama

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General News of Sunday, 2 February 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2020-02-02

John Dramani Mahama is Former President of GhanaJohn Dramani Mahama is Former President of Ghana

Former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong has rebuffed reports which seem to suggest the involvement of the late President John Evans Atta Mills and Former President, John Dramani Mahama in the recently released Airbus bribery scandal.

Europe’s largest aerospace multinational, Airbus admitted that it paid huge bribes in order to secure contracts in a number of countries, Ghana, included.

The multinational company was fined £3 billion as penalties after a High Court in London found them guilty in what has been described by anti-corruption investigators as the largest ever corporate fine for bribery in the world.

According to The Guardian Report, Airbus was found guilty on the grounds of paying bribes in “Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ghana between 2011 and 2015.”

With regards to Ghana, the report further stated that Airbus “between 2009 and 2015 engaged intermediary 5, a close relative of a high-ranking elected Ghanaian government official (Government Official 1), as its BP in respect of the proposed sale of three aircraft to the government of Ghana. A number of Airbus employees knew that intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Official 1, a key decision maker in respect of the sales.

A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately £5 million to the intermediary. 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 favour by the Government Official 1 towards Airbus,” parts of the prosecution case relating to Ghana read.

Considering the stated period, many have suggested that the event occurred during the administration of Mr. Atta Mills and Mr. John Dramani Mahama.

Several sections of the public have also pointed fingers at Mr. Mahama as the “Government Official 1” the report noted was linked to the case.

A statement released by the party and signed by the former A.G however describes the allegations as ‘false, misleading and misrepresenting’ of the Approved Judgement.

According to the release, the ‘Approved Judgement of the Crown Court of Southwark, approving the DPA (Deferred Prosecution Agreement) between Airbus and the UK Serious Fraud Office does not allege that any payment was made by Airbus to any Ghanaian Government Official.

“It is therefore gross distortion” it continued, for the “media to conclude that officials of the Ghana Government between 2009 and 2015 were bribed or paid any commissions by Airbus for the acquisition of the Casa C-295 aircrafts.”

Read the full statement below