Special Prosecutor invites Mahama’s ‘Brother’, others over Airbus scandal

The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has suddenly regained his lacklustre composure as he sends an invitation to four people reportedly connected to the multi-million-dollar Airbus global bribery scandal over both military and commercial aircraft deals.

According to the Special Prosecutor, upon completion of a preliminary investigation, his office will require Samuel Mahama, who he describes as a brother of former President John Mahama; Philip Sean Middlemiss; Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux, all British nationals, to come and answer some questions on the various roles they allegedly played in the sale and purchase of the aircraft.

These individuals are said to have used their connections to top government officials to clinch huge military aircraft contract with Ghana, and that the entire deal was facilitated by massive bribes paid along the web of middlemen and government officials in Ghana.

On January 31, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office cited Ghana as one of five countries that were greased by juicy Airbus bribes in a scandal that has resulted in Airbus entering a record £3 billion settlement in France, the United Kingdom and the United States to avoid corporate criminal charges.

When cornered, Airbus confessed to paying bribes totally €5 million to highly placed government officials in Ghana between 2011 and 2015 to supply military-grade aircraft in what the British courts described as “grave criminality”.

This was during the John Evans Atta-Mills/ John Dramani Mahama administration of the now opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The UK’s Crown Court at Southwark late January issued a lengthy judgment that gave tell-tale clues to specific names involved in the Airbus scandal in Ghana. The judgment used coded messages to describe the individuals, including “important government official”, “Intermediary 5”, “Intermediary 8”, etc. The SFO also described the recipient of the bribe as “Government Official 1”.

The said payment was reportedly intended to induce or reward “improper favour” by Government Official 1 towards Airbus.

“Between 2009 and 2015 an Airbus defence company engaged Intermediary 5, a close relative of a high ranking elected Ghanaian Government official 

(Government Official 1) as its BP in respect of the proposed sale of three military transport aircraft to the Government of Ghana. A number of Airbus employees knew that Intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Official 1, who was a key decision-maker in respect of the proposed sales.

A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million to Intermediary 5,” stated the judgment from the Crown Court at Southwark.

In November 2011, Ghana took delivery of the first of the aircraft involved in the scandal. They are Airbus C295 military transporters and the cost Ghanaian taxpayers over US$105 million.

The money was secured as a loan from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). The loan agreement apparently paved the way for a Brazilian company- Contracta Engenharia, to build the hangar for the aircraft at US$17 million.

According to the SFO investigation, a company dubbed “Company D” was the corporate vehicle that provided services to Airbus in the contract to secure the military transport aircraft for Ghana. Incidentally, investigators realised that Company D is actually partly owned by Intermediary 5, the close relative of the Government Official 1.

The serious nature of the scandal forced President  Akufo-Addo to refer it to a hitherto sleeping Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations.