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Airbus scandal : All fingers point to John Mahama and he must respond - NPP (Video)

By Mutala Yakubu
Yaw Buabeng Asamoah
Yaw Buabeng Asamoah
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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says all fingers allegedly points to John Mahama who was president at the time Airbus deal was struck.

They then branded in him as the “Government Official 1” mentioned in a bribery allegation involving European aviation giant, Airbus.

At a news conference in Accra today February 3, 2020, Communication Director of the party, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, asked the former president to officially respond to the court documents.

“In the face of these facts, it is very necessary for president Mahama to come out and be heard publicly,” Mr Buabeng Asamoah said.

“He cannot continue to hide behind his party members including a former attorney general. Of course, we are all aware that he hates answering questions on corruption but he must answer because at this moment all fingers point to him and one of his brothers”

" He was the President at the time and presided over this deal so he has to come out and tell Ghanaians if he was involved or not".

Last week, Airbus entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, with the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which was investigating the company for bribing or failing to prevent corruption in transactions in five countries, including Ghana.

Video credit: Myjoyonline

READ ALSO: Akufo-Addo's Airbus probe a diversionary tactic from vanishing excavators - Asiedu Nketia

Under the agreement the British SFO agreed to suspend the prosecution of Airbus for a period of three years. If Airbus complies with the terms of the agreement within the period, the prosecution will be discontinued.

The mention of Ghana in the agreement has sparked a flurry of political activity with the opposition NDC issuing a statement denying that its officials in the erstwhile Mills and Mahama administrations were involved in any corruption with Airbus, which supplied military aircraft to Ghana in 2012.

The deferred prosecution agreement didn’t specifically name any officials who might have been bribed or corrupted during Ghana’s negotiations with Airbus but it refers to personalities involved as Government Official 1 (a high-ranking elected public figure) and Intermediary 5 (a British national and close relative of Government Official 1), among others.

READ ALSO: Akufo-Addo directs Special Prosecutor to probe Airbus bribery claims

The governing New Patriotic Party believes that the person referred to as Government Official One is former President John Mahama.

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