Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu, has accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of trying to politicise the Airbus Scandal ahead of the 2024 general elections.
According to him, the president is trying to dishonour the main opponent of his ‘chosen successor’ of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 presidential elections.
Amidu, who made these claims in a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, added that Akufo-Addo is deploying all the state machinery at his disposal including forcing the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to revive the Airbus Scandal.
“The Republic of Ghana under the 1992 Constitution on 7 January 2017 became the patrimony of Our Saviour, His Excellency Highness President Big Brother (B.B.) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to manipulate and dispense with regarding what the electorate must believe and disbelieve as ordained by him, and his family and friends’ Government.
“The 2024 elections must bend to the dictates and wishes of Big Brother in the use of orchestrated political truth deployed by all levers of state power under his control to discredit his opponents to ensure his self-perpetuation in the surrogacy of a successor at the 7 December 2024 election and on 7 January 2025,” he wrote.
Amidu, who is the immediate past special prosecutor, said that he came to the realization that the Airbus Scandal was being politicized when he got a call from a top government and a leading member of the NPP, asking him about details of his investigation when he was in office including the involvement of the brother of former President John Dramani Mahama.
He went on to narrate the events that transpired during the phone call as follows:
“My suspicions about the in tandem orchestration and politicization of the Airbus SE-Ghana investigation were first confirmed on 13 August 2023 at 19:21 Hours when I received a 2 missed call from an unlikely source and returned the call at 19:41 Hours only to hear my interlocutor say from the other end that: “Uncle it is me…..”. My interlocutor wanted to find out from me whether I could confirm that Samuel Mahama, the younger brother of former President John Mahama, and other suspects for whom I had caused an INTERPOL arrest warrant to issue when I was the Special Prosecutor, had been arrested in the United Kingdom for extradition to Ghana.
“My interlocutor turned out to be a public officer in the Government paid from public funds appropriated by parliament who in his official capacity has nothing to do with law enforcement in Ghana. Incidentally, he also holds an influential position in the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“I answered in the negative and reminded my interlocutor that I ceased to have anything to do with the Airbus SE-Ghana investigation upon my resignation from the OSP. I, therefore, had no interest whatsoever in following what was happening in that investigation. I also reminded the interlocutor that I had left the OSP in the care of my deputy as the acting Special Prosecutor for eleven months before a substantive Special Prosecutor was appointed on 5 August 2021. I asked the interlocutor to contact Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor to confirm whether or not the allegations he sought to confirm from me were true. We spoke on the phone for 5 minutes 35 seconds at my expense.”
About Airbus scandal:
Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, was alleged to have paid bribes in Ghana when it sold the three military aircraft.
The aerospace multinational admitted hiring the brother of a top elected Ghanaian official as its consultant for the pitch to sell the aircraft to the country.
Also, Airbus confessed to paying the said consultant through a third party when its Compliance Unit raised red flags about the close relationship between the consultant and the top elected official, who was a key decision-maker in the purchase of the military aircraft.
Former President John Dramani Mahama was one of the government officials implicated in the scandal with the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, alleging that the “Government Official One” label in the scandal was the former president.
Amidu in an epistle while in office as Special Prosecutor revealed how John Mahama allegedly used his office to guarantee for Ghanaian passport for his brother Samuel Adam Mahama.
Martin Amidu said, “Amongst other reasons for the letter to the said Ministry, the Samuel Adam Mahama’s elder brother of full blood who without a doubt and the evidence available to this Office answers to the description of the elected Government Official 1 allegedly granted a denial interview to the Daily Graphic which published same on June 20, 2020, fortunately containing suspected admissions that he is the elected Government Official 1 referred to in the UK judgement.
“Serving appointees of this government have been unable to obtain the voice recording of this interview to enable the Office to confront the former president with his own admissions in the interview as answering to the description to the brother of Samuel Adam Mahama as Intermediary 5.”
John Mahama however denied the allegations and charged Amidu, who was in office by then, to prosecute him if he was indeed the said Government Official One.
ghanaweb.com
