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President
Akufo-Addo has referred the Airbus bribery scandal to the Office of the Special
Prosecutor for immediate investigations.
A letter signed by Eugene Arhin, Communications
Director at the Presidency, stated that these Airbus investigations are
expected to be conducted in collaboration with the United Kingdom authorities.
The reports on Airbus which emerged after the
company admitted in a UK court that it paid bribes to officials in some five
countries including Ghana between 2009 and 2015,have sparked rumours in Ghana.
Some Ghanaians have challenged NDC which was in
charge of the governance of the country during the period to respond to the
claims.
In a statement, the former minister of Justice Marietta
Brew Appiah-Oppong said the media has misrepresented the facts as happened in
the court.
“Our attention has been drawn to media reports
about a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) entered between Airbus SE and the
United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office in respect of the practice of Airbus SE in
paying commission to its agents and the use of those commissions. The reports
alleging that Airbus SE paid bribes during the administration of President John
Evans Atta Mills and John Dramani Mahama are false, misleading and do not
reflect the Approved Judgment.
“Indeed, the Approved Judgment of the Crown
Court of Southwark approving the DPA between Airbus and the UK Serious Fraud
Office does not allege that any payment was made by Airbus to any Ghanaian
Government official,” the statement said.
It added: “It is therefore a gross distortion
for the media to conclude that officials of the Ghana Government between 2009
and 2015 were bribed or paid any commissions by Airbus for the acquisition of
the Casa C-295 aircrafts”.
Below is the full statement from the Presidency
INQUIRY INTO BRIBERY OF GHANAIAN OFFICIALS IN
MILITARY AIRCRAFT DEAL
The attention of the President of the Republic,
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been drawn to a 31st January 2020 judgement of
the Crown Court at Southwark, in the United Kingdom, between the Director of
the Serious Fraud Office and Airbus SE, in which the European multinational
aerospace corporation has been fined $3.9 billion for the payment of bribes to
secure deals in five countries, including Ghana.
According to the Statement of Facts in the case,
between 2009 and 2015, “a number of Airbus employees made or promised success
based commission payments of approximately ES million to Intermediary 5”, who
is said to be “a close relative of a high ranking elected Ghanaian Government
official (Government Official 1)”.
Significantly, “Government Official 1 was a key
decision-maker in respect of Government of Ghana aircraft orders”.
The payments to Intermediary 5 by officials of Airbus
SE were, thus, “intended to induce or reward improper favour by Government
Official 1” over the purchase of three (3) C-295 military transport aircraft.
Indeed, out of the ES million promised
Intermediary 5, E3.85 million was paid between March 2012 and February 2014.
President Akufo-Addo has taken notice of the
judgement and its implications and has referred it to the Office of Special
Prosecutor to collaborate with its UK counterparts to conduct a prompt inquiry
to determine the complicity or otherwise of any Ghanaian government official,
past or present, involved in the said scandal, and to take the necessary legal
action against any such official, as required by Ghanaian law.
