The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has challenged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to make public evidence that supposedly incriminates former President John Mahama in the Airbus bribery scandal.
Responding to allegations from the NPP earlier today, the National Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, said official documents from the United States of America and the United Kingdom relating to the scandal have not implicated Mahama or any of his former appointees.
In January 2020, Ghana was cited as one of five countries in which global aerospace group, Airbus SE, allegedly bribed or promised payments to senior state officials in exchange for business favours between 2009 and 2015, according to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.
This led to a record £3 billion in settlement by Airbus with France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to avoid corporate criminal charges.
But no names were mentioned in any documents relating to the case.
“Not a phrase, not a sentence, not a paragraph, not a word in the documents or the Airbus matter suggests that any Ghana government official, not even the so-called government official one, collected money, benefited in any way or violated any law in that transaction,” Mr. Gyamfi stressed.
He further gave the NPP up to the close of Friday to show “one phrase, one sentence in the whole Airbus deferred prosecution agreements or approved judgments in which it is said that a Ghana government official at the time in which the transaction took place was paid any money.”
If proven wrong, Mr. Gyamfi said he will resign his executive position in the NDC.
In his view, the NPP is only looking for a “bribery classmate” following allegations of corruption fired the way of President Akufo-Addo ahead of the December 7 elections.
In contrast, Mr. Gyamfi said, “John Mahama remains squeaky clean; not a dent on his integrity.”
President Akufo-Addo referred the Airbus bribery scandal to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations.
The former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, named Mr. Mahama as the Ghanaian Official, described as Government Official 1 in documents relating to the scandal.
The said official used a brother to receive bribes from Airbus.
Mr. Amidu was however unable to complete his investigations before leaving office.
