John Mahama must come clean on Airbus bribery scandal – Matthew Nyindam

The First Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Matthew Nyindam has called on former President John Dramani Mahama to speak on the Red Alert from Interpol.

A brother of the former President, Adam Mahama has been placed on Interpol red alert for his alleged involvement in the Airbus bribery scandal being investigated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

Adam Mahama is being charged with “accepting a bribe to influence a public officer” and “acting in collaboration with a public officer for the public officer’s private profit”.

Following an arrest warrant approved by a Circuit Court in Accra, the Interpol subsequently placed a Red Alert for the capture and possible extradition of Mr. Adam Mahama.

According to Matthew Nyindam, Mr. Mahama must come out to disclose his involvement in the matter.

“The scandal has been around for some time. Government official work has been mentioned. I think that it was the period of former president John Mahama. He should come out and say he was not involved. That’s the most important thing not as to whether it was politically motivated or whatever it is. I don’t have facts about it but I think that, it is up to the presidency or the candidature of John Mahama to come out and speak about his involvement in this particular scandal and he will clear the air and everybody will be free. When it comes to corruption, John Mahama is known, he spoke about it and we know his stand.”

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Samuel Nartey George says the red alert is fictitious.

“Interpol has not issued any red alert. You have your over age special prosecutor who is seeking relevance and is just basically trying to give the government a leeway from having his backs against the ropes. He goes to a circuit court and secures an ex-parte warrant for an arrest for a man he has not even invited before. You go and seek an arrest warrant for someone you have not invited before…and you go and seek an arrest warrant and take it to the Ghanaian office of Interpol and you notified them that you have an arrest warrant.”

“That is different from Interpol issuing an arrest. On the Interpol website now, there is no red notice. There were 7,000 individuals who red notices have been issued for. Samuel Mahama is not one of them,” he said.

Background

On January 31, Ghana was cited as one of five countries in which global aerospace group, Airbus SE, allegedly bribed or promised payments to senior officials in exchange for business favours between 2009 and 2015, according to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

This led to a record £3 billion in settlement by Airbus with France, the United Kingdom and the United States to avoid corporate criminal charges.

In addition to Ghana, the company allegedly paid bribes to officials in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Taiwan within the same period.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office, however, in its statement of fact did not name the individual Ghanaian officials nor the Airbus agents involved in the crime because investigations were still ongoing.

President Akufo-Addo had earlier referred the Airbus bribery scandal to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations.

These investigations were expected to be conducted in collaboration with UK authorities, according to a statement from the Presidency.

Source: Citinewsroom