The Special Prosecutor (SP), Martin Amidu has urged political parties to
stop politicising the issue of the Airbus saga.
A statement issued and signed by him, stated that the appropriate offices have
been contacted to assist the office of the SP to properly investigate the
scandal.
“The Office of the Special Prosecutor appeals to the public not to speculate or
politicise the disclosures made in the deferred prosecution agreements and
judgment so as to allow this office to treat the suspected crimes as suspected
crimes and nothing more, pending the conclusion of the investigation”.
President Akufo-Addo has referred the matter to the Office of the
Special Prosecutor after court documents from the United Kingdom (UK) and the United
States (US) surfaced alleging wrongdoing by Airbus SE in a series of business
deals in countries including Ghana.
According to Mr Amidu, the Office of the SP commenced investigation on 4th February,
2020.
Per the statement, the SP “has determined that the said referral and the
deferred prosecution agreements and judgments accompanying them raise
reasonable suspicion of the commission of corruption and corruption-related
offences of bribery of public officers and the use of public office by public
officers for private profit, which are offences falling within the mandate of
this Office under the Officer of the Special Prosecutor, Act, 2017 (Act
959)”.
The bribery scandal cited Ghana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Taiwan as
destinations where Airbus, the largest aerospace multinational in Europe,
admitted that it paid bribes in some of the countries in order to secure
contracts.
The Crown Court at Southwark in the United Kingdom passed judgment on 31st
January 2020, between the Director of the Serious Fraud Office and Airbus SE,
in which the European multinational aerospace corporation was fined.
The London High Court found Airbus guilty and imposed a fine of three billion pounds (£3bn) as penalties.
Airbus was charged with five counts of failing to prevent bribery, having used a network of secret agents to pay large-scale backhanders to officials in foreign countries to land high-value contracts.
In the case of Ghana, the operations were reported to have taken place between 2009 and 2015, during which period John Dramani Mahama served as Vice President and then later as President.
