Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has identified former president John Dramani Mahama as the Government Official 1 in the Airbus Scandal.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, August 8, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng also confirmed the brother of the former president, Samuel Mahama, as intermediary 5.
Giving a brief overview of investigations carried out by his outfit, the OSP confirmed that John Dramani Mahama was identified as Government Official 1 and Individual 1 by UK and US courts respectively but played no role in the acquisition.
“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.
“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.”
Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu commenced investigations in 2020 into an agreement during Mahama’s administration to procure two military transport aircraft from Airbus for the Ghana Armed Forces.
The former President John Dramani Mahama and his brother Samuel Adam Mahama Foster were alleged to be entangled in the scandal.
A UK court heard charges against Samuel Adam Mahama Foster and his UK friends in the Airbus SE-Ghana case and issued an arrest warrant for them, resulting in an INTERPOL Red Notice.