One of the four UK nationals whose names had been bandied around as a supposed conspirator who had schemed with the Mahama government to rake in bribes from the supposed shady sale of aircraft to Ghana by Airbus has been absolved of any wrongdoing.
Consequently, actor, Philip Sean Middlemiss, is suing the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for the psychological and financial troubles that the bribe-taking allegation brought him and his family.
Mr. Middlemiss reiterates that he did not take a penny in bribes from Airbus from Ghana’s purchase of three C-295 military planes costing £50million.
“The poor investigation by the SFO and subsequent no further action has had a catastrophic impact on Mr. Middlemiss. We are advising him on an action against the SFO along with civil remedies that include psychological/psychiatric damage,” his lawyer, Adam Rasul, CEO of Holborn Adams, has confirmed.
The turnaround from being the SFO’s suspect to becoming a potentially nightmarish plaintiff came three months ago, after nearly two years of investigation by the SFO – he received a letter from the body stating that “following a review of the evidence” he was not to be prosecuted for any offence.
The SFO has since been apologetic, stating, “Following our investigation, Airbus admitted to widespread corruption in several countries and were handed a record-breaking fine of approximately £3 billion. The SFO is committed to caring for victims or witnesses of fraud or corruption fairly, with dignity and respect.”
The turnaround for Middlemiss, an actor who enjoyed a lot of fame and respect until the SFO investigation into the Airbus scandals opened in 2019, casts more doubt on what is widely seen as a politically motivated case that former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, had opened into the supposed Airbus bribery scandal in Ghana.
Former President John Mahama who appeared to be targeted by Amidu’s investigation had stated repeatedly that attempts to impute bribery to him simply on the basis of the fact that the SFO had prosecuted Airbus in the UK was political mischief.
However, Amidu, then apparently instigated by the Akufo-Addo Jubilee House, had insisted that because the SFO had cited Ghana as one of the countries which had bought planes from Airbus around the same time that Airbus was engaged in bribing governments for contracts around the world, it was imperative to investigate in Ghana as well.
And as part of the investigation, Amidu had issued invitations to Mr. Middlemiss along with UK/Ghanaian citizen Samuel Adam Foster alias Samuel Adam Mahama and UK nationals; Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux.
When they did not respond to the invitations Amidu went as far as to issue an Interpol red alert for them. Reflecting on Amidu’s actions, Philip Middlemiss says he had dismissed it at the time as politically motivated but that it had not stopped the SFO from impounding his passports and other documents.
Philip Sean Middlemiss is a popular actor in the UK who was famous for his character, des Barnes in the soap, Coronation Street. In 2019 Airbus agreed to pay a record $4billion fine to the UK, France and the US after a four-year investigation in more than 12 countries found the firm bribed public officials and hid the payments in a web of worldwide corruption.
In an interview, the actor recalls that his embroilment in the bribery scandal had happened quite unexpectedly. It all started with a film project he was working on in the UK in 2009. His best friend, a British-Ghanaian, who he does not name for legal reasons, was in Ghana at the time and Phil decided to pay him a working visit and also explore possible locations for the film.
“We were friends from the age of 18, he was living and working in Ghana at the time so I thought what a great opportunity. I’d never been to West Africa, I was enamoured as soon as I got there. It was such a vibrant country. I must have gone 30-40 times.”
In the end, the film never got made due to investors pulling out, but he developed a taste for entrepreneurship in the country. “I began the process of starting a drama school and a performing arts centre,” he says. Other projects included a glass factory, boutique hotel, even a theme park.
In early 2010, he says, Airbus approached and asked for his friend’s assistance with the sale of their C-295 aircraft to Ghana.
“Ghana had lodged an interest in procuring the aircraft before I was even out there, but getting things done in Africa is vastly different to getting things done here.