In the past few days, the nation has engaged in an intense debate over a January 31, 2020 judgment of the Crown Court at Southwark, in UK, between the Serious Fraud Office against Airbus SE.
The Crown Court passed the judgment, in which
the European multinational aerospace corporation was fined $3.9 billion for the
payment of bribes to secure deals in five countries, including Ghana.
Airbus
was also consequently found guilty and a fine of three billion pounds (£3bn)
was imposed as penalties.
The company was further 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.
However, the revelation in the UK court document that some top representatives from the then government of Ghana, benefitted from bribes before three Airbus C-295 aircrafts were procured for the Ghana Army, has sparked a huge debate across the country.
While the two political parties; the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), have engaged in a spirited arguments over who under the previous government might have been involved in the scandal, many Ghanaians have been left confused as to which of the two sides to believe,
This is because the court documents that the Ghanaian Times has cited did not mention names of the top government official(s) who might have been bribed by Airbus.
But the NPP has been vociferous in pointing accusing fingers at personalities in the previous government. Members of the NDC have vehemently denied any wrong doing.
At the back of all the arguments however, the
Office of the President, has charged the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, to
with immediate effect delve into bribery scandal and investigate the complicity
of any public official, “past or present” who may have been involved
in the saga.
A statement signed by Communications Director
at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, stated that the investigation is expected to be
conducted in collaboration with the United Kingdom authorities.
” . . President Akufo-Addo has taken notice
of the judgment and its implications, and has referred it to the Office of
Special Prosecutor (OSP) to collaborate with its UK counterparts to conduct a
prompt inquiry to determine the complicity or otherwise of any Ghanaian
government official, past or present, involved in the said scandal, and to take
the necessary legal action against any such official, as required by Ghanaian
law,” the statement read.
We are happy that the President has ordered immediate investigation into the matter in order to bring out the truth or otherwise.
All over the world corruption has become a canker that all governments have vowed to fight. In fact, in many places around the world, those caught in corruption practices are punished severely because of the harm it does to societies.
It is in this vein that, we welcome the President’s order and call on all those who abhor the cancer to rally behind the government and the SPO to unknot the case.
It is in our collective interest for the truth to come out.
