Airbus scandal: OSP clears Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama did not receive bribe or engage in any corrupt practice in relation to the purchase of three military aircraft from aerospace giants, Airbus, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has concluded.

In its investigative report, the OSP further found that Mr Mahama did not allow the high offices of Vice-President or President to be used for corrupt practices during the negotiations for the purchase of the aircraft between 2009 and 2015, while no public officials involved in the aircraft purchase were found to have also engaged in any corrupt act.

The OSP further came to a determination that there was no evidence to suggest that Samuel Adam Mahama, a brother of the former President and an agent involved in the deal on behalf of Airbus, as well as other agents, obtained favours from former President Mahama or became a conduit for the payment of bribes to the former President or any public official.

“The OSP found no evidentiary basis that suggests that former President John Dramani Mahama or any other public official was induced to improperly favour or did improperly favour Airbus in respect of the purchase by the Government of Ghana of military transport aircraft from Airbus,” the OSP stated.

The 25-page investigative report was presented by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, at a news conference in Accra yesterday.

Case closed

Following the investigations which found no evidence of culpability against former President Mahama and any government official or the other persons of interests under investigations, the OSP has closed the investigations into the Airbus matter.

“The Special Prosecutor has directed the closure of the OSP investigation into alleged bribery of high-ranking Ghanaian officials by Airbus SE, through intermediaries, in respect of the sale of military transport aircraft by Airbus SE to the Republic of Ghana between 2009 and 2015,” Mr Agyebeng said.

Further, the Special Prosecutor has decided to apply to the Circuit Court to rescind a warrant for the arrest of Samuel Adam Mahama and other persons of interest in the investigations, as well as the withdrawal of a Red Notice to INTERPOL.

Background

Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, was alleged to have paid bribes in Ghana when it sold the three military aircraft.

The said allegations, which led to President Akufo-Addo referring the matter to the OSP for investigations in February 2020, was as a result of a series of investigations and prosecutions of Airbus by the US, the UK and France authorities.

According to USA and UK court documents, Airbus had been under investigations by the US Department of Justice, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) of the UK and the Parquet National Financier (PNF) of France.

This came to light after nearly four years of investigations by authorities in the USA, the UK and France into the business operations of Airbus, which culminated in the company being fined $3.9 billion for its corrupt practices in Ghana, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Taiwan within the same period.

The $3.9-billion fine imposed on Airbus is one of the biggest in the world against a corporate body.

The US, the UK and France authorities imposed the fine in a deferred prosecution agreement which is essentially a corporate plea bargain that helped the company to avoid criminal prosecution.

Airbus was found guilty of failing to prevent its employees and others associated with the company from bribing officials during deals for the purchase of its aircraft and other products, and also, for breaking US export regulations with regard to its International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Court documents published by the US Department of Justice of the US and the SFO of the UK revealed how Airbus employed different tactics to allegedly bribe officials in many countries, including Ghana, in order to secure lucrative contracts.

In the case of Ghana, Airbus allegedly paid more than €3 million through a third party.

According to the facts, a high-ranking elected official, which the document mentioned as “Government Official 1 — who was said to be in office from 2009 to 2016 — made direct contact with the Airbus management about the purchase of the aircraft a few months after he took office.

“Airbus purposefully sought to engage Consultant 4 due to his closeness to Government Official 1,” the facts added. 

OSP investigations

The OSP revealed in its investigations that the said “Government Official 1” was, indeed, former President Mahama, while the Consultant 4 was Samuel Adam Mahama, the brother of the former President.

According to the OSP, although the UK and the US investigations and judicial decisions established criminal culpability, it was only in relation to direct activities of Airbus and not former President Mahama, Samuel Adam Mahama and the other persons of interest in the investigations.

It added that the OSP could, therefore, not have relied on the judicial decisions from the USA and UK as proof of criminal culpability, especially when the said decision involved only Airbus and had no bearing or whatsoever on former President Mahama and other persons of interests to the investigations.

During its investigations, the OSP said, it found out that the process leading to the purchase of the three aircraft followed due process, with parliamentary approval and other due diligence.

The anti-graft agency said the only reason why the deal became suspicious and popped up in the investigations by the US and UK into activities of Airbus was the family relation between former President Mahama and Samuel Adam Mahama.

However, the OSP found out that Samuel Adam Mahama and his associates had previously been involved in deals for Airbus, and only became involved as intermediaries in the Airbus-Ghana deal due to the Government of Ghana decision to opt for the Airbus military aircraft after the previous arrangement failed to materialise.

“Therefore, it seems that Samuel Adam Mahama or Samuel 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 stated.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh