OSP clears Mahama in the airbus saga

The Office of Special Prosecutor says there is no evidence of bribery found against former President John Mahama in the Airbus scandal.

Speaking to journalists in Accra on Thursday, the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng also stated that there is no evidence to suggest former President John Dramani Mahama received any bribes in the Airbus scandal, despite confirming that Mahama was the individual referred to as “Government Official 1” in the UK court and “Individual 1” in the US court.

“The individual described as Government Official One by the UK court and Individual One by the US court is John Dramani Mahama. He is a citizen of Ghana, and he served as the Vice President of Ghana from January 7, 2009, to 2012, and as President of Ghana from 2012 to January 7, 2017.

“His tenure as Vice President coincided with the timeframe of the UK and US investigations into the first Airbus campaign for the sale of two C295 aircraft to Ghana. His term as President occurred during the UK-US investigation of the second Airbus campaign for the sale of one C295 aircraft to Ghana,” Agyebeng stated.

“The OSP confirms the identity of the following individuals. The individual described as Government Official 1 by the UK court and Individual 1 by the US court is John Dramani Mahama. He is a citizen of Ghana and was the Vice-President of Ghana from January 7 2009 to July 24, 2012,” the OSP stated.

“The OSP investigation found no evidence that former President Mahama was involved or played any role in the procurement and maintenance of the agency relationship between Airbus and Foster and his associates in respect of the purchase by the Government of Ghana of military transport aircraft from Airbus.

“And it appears to the OSP that the direct communications and meetings between former President Mahama and officials of Airbus to close the deal were actuated by good intentions on the part of the former.

“It also appears that Foster and his associates became involved as intermediaries in the Airbus-Ghana deal after the decision by the Government of Ghana in preference of the C-295 aircraft. Therefore, it seems that Foster’s Airbus intermediary role at the time his brother served as the Vice President of Ghana was a case of luckless coincidence that attracted the disapproval of the UK and US authorities.

“The OSP found no evidence that suggests that the involvement of Foster as an intermediary of Airbus and the direct communications and meetings between former President Mahama and officials of Airbus to close the deal between Airbus and the Government of Ghana amounted to any corruption and corruption-related offence in respect of which the OSP has a mandate.”