Amidu has shocked me …Mahama denies gov’t official 1 tag

Former President John Dramani Mahama is fighting off the mysterious Government Official 1 tag by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu in the controversial £5 million Airbus Scandal.

Mr. Mahama says he is disappointed in Mr. Amidu naming him as the Government Official 1 in the never-ending saga.

Insisting that “Not a single dollar,” was accrued to him, The NDC flagbearer said Mr. Amidu has no basis whatsoever to proceed and investigate him because he had no financial benefit from the Airbus contract.

The comments follow a claim by Mr. Amidu that Mr. Mahama is the ‘Government Official 1’ in the Airbus Scandal.

 

This was contained in the corruption risk assessment report of the controversial Agyapa Royalty deal, mentioning that he (Mr. Amidu) has identified the former President as ‘Government Official 1.’

He added that, his office is not interrogating Mr. Mahama because he is the presidential candidate of the biggest opposition party in the country in the upcoming elections.

The NDC flagbearer, however, has rubbished the claim.

Tactic

But reacting to the claim, Mr. Mahama said this is a tactic by the government and the Special Prosecutor to implicate him and divert attention from the findings on the Agyapa deal in the report which is heading back to Parliament.

“I’m surprised. It is obvious why this paragraph is coming out. This damning report was coming out, and I’m disappointed in Martin Amidu for putting that paragraph there just to equalise and bring up airbus as if it was a major issue,” he noted.

He reaffirmed his claim on Accra-based Starr FM, that he had no hand in the Airbus scandal, daring the Special Prosecutor to provide evidence of the claim, if indeed Mr. Amidu conducted investigations into the scandal.

The NDC Flagbearer said. “I’ve had my say on the Airbus issue. No financial benefit accrued to me. And the point is even that, there is no basis for the claim.”

The former President dared Mr. Amidu to bring evidence of the claim if indeed, his findings revealed him as the Government Official 1.

Adam Mahama

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) in July issued a Red Notice for Samuel Adam Fosters aka Samuel Adam Mahama in connection with his role in the Airbus bribery scandal.

He is being sought for allegedly accepting bribe to influence a public officer and acting in collaboration with a public officer for the public officer’s private gain.

Airbus Scandal

Ghana is one of five countries in which the European aviation giant, Airbus, paid or attempted to pay millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for contracts, leading a court in Britain to slap a fine of £5 billion on the company.

In court documents and hearings, Airbus admitted five counts of failing to prevent bribery, using a network of secret agents to pay large-scale backhanders to officials in foreign countries, including Ghana, to land high-value contracts.

According to the report, there are six key actors involved in the scandal regarding Ghana.

Investigators from the UK’s SFO identified them only as Government Official 1 (high ranking and elected), Intermediary 5 (British national and close relative of Government Official 1), Company D (corporate vehicle for Intermediary 5 – shareholder), Intermediary 6 (British national and associate of Intermediary 5), Intermediary 7 (British national and associate of Intermediary 5), as well as Intermediary 8 (Spanish company and front for Intermediary 5).

Other British citizens; Philip Sean Middlemiss; Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux are connected to the case for their roles in the scandal.