Though the UK's Crown Court's judgement did not explicitly name former President John Dramani Mahama as the Government Official 1 in the infamous Airbus bribery scandal, his Special Aide, Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe has already jumped to his defense.
The Crown Court at Southwark in the United Kingdom passed judgment on 31st January 2020, between the Director of the Serious Fraud Office and Airbus SE, in which the European multinational aerospace corporation was fined $3.9 billion for the payment of bribes to secure deals in five countries, including Ghana.
The London High Court found Airbus guilty and imposed a fine of three billion pounds (£3bn) as penalties.
Airbus was charged with five counts of failing to prevent bribery, having used a network of secret agents to pay large-scale backhanders to officials in foreign countries to land high-value contracts.
With regards to Ghana, the report further stated that the planemaker, according to Section 7 of UK’s Bribery Act 2010, "between 2009 and 2015 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 aircraft to the government of Ghana. A number of Airbus employees knew that intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Official 1, a key decision-maker in respect of the sales.
"A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately £5 million to the intermediary. False documentation was created by or with the agreement of Airbus employees in order to support and disguise these payments. The payments were intended to induce or reward improper favor by the Government Official 1 towards Airbus.”
Following news of the ruling, Office of the President charged the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, to with immediate effect delve into the bottom of the Airbus bribery scandal and investigate the complicity of any public official, "past or present" who may have been involved in the saga.
A statement signed by Communications Director at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, stated that these investigations are expected to be conducted in collaboration with the United Kingdom authorities.
Commenting on the Airbus scandal on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Edudzi Tamakloe was insistent that; "neither John Dramani Mahama nor any of his officials has taken even 1 pound from an intermediary involved in this transaction. The agreed report we are all basing our argument on has not stated anywhere that this intermediary on a particular day gave 1 pound to John Mahama or 1 pound to the Defence Minister or any official from the Ministry . . . nothing of that sort happened, but we welcome the investigation of the President”.
He further argued the ruling emphasized in Article 3 based on the European Union Convention on Human Rights that it is not proper to reveal the identity of the persons involved in a criminal matter until their responses are heard; stressing that the Airbus scandal is not over as investigations are ongoing.
Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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Airbus bribery fallout: Investigations launched worldwide
MAHAMA MUST BE ARRESTED IMMEDIATELY AND CHARGED. MAHAMA MIGHT BE THE FIRST FORMER PRESIDENT IN GHANA TO BE IMPRISONED. THE STATE MUST FOLLOW THE RIGHT PROCESS OF THE RULE OF LAW TO INVESTIGATE THE MATTER TO THE BOTTOM. AS THE MALAYSIANS SAY IF YOU WANT TO WEED OUT CORRUPTION BEGIN FROM THE TOP AND NOT THE BOTTOM. WE DON'T HAVE ANY KANGAROO COURTS TO TRY THE INVOLVED. WE SHALL NOT KILL ANYBODY FOR UNSUBSTANTIATED ACCUSATION. PROPER INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE DONE FOR THE TRUTH TO COME OUT. THE CULPRIT MUST BE MADE TO PAY AND BE PUNISHED FOR WHATEVER IS STOLEN FROM STATE. IT WAS FOR THE AIM TO HIDE THIS TRUTHS ABOUT THE AIRBUS, AMONG OTHER THINGS THAT MILLS DIED. FOR THE SAKE OF MANY BLOODS SHED IN THE NAME OF CORRUPTION, NOBODY MUST BE SHIELDED FOR A CORRUPT DEED. THE GHOSTS OF THE GENERALS, THE GHOSTS OF OVERTHROWN PRESIDENTS ACCUSED OF UNSUBSTANTIATED CORRUPTIONS, AND THE GHOST OF MILLS WHO DIED MYSTERIOUSLY WOULD NOT FORGIVE THIS GENERATION IF WE OVERLOOK ANY REAL CASE OF CORRUPTION. GOD BLESS GHANA. GOD BLESS ANYONE WHO STAND BY THE SIDE OF TRUTH TO FIGHT CORRUPTION IN GHANA.
were you there when jdm was taking those moneys, these ndc goons a digging deeper grave for mahama and he shall fall in so sadly. The man is a well known bribe taker from his work at japan embassy as communication officer to president evidence abound, the fresh one is the ford from the Burkinabe we had a real connection man and frausterrr as a president
Where from this one too? When the transaction was taking place you were struggling as a law student at Legon What do you know I hate this thing of people defending party people keke Masa go and fix your teeth it is horrible
tell that to the marines, the bribes were mentioned in the judgement, that is why airbus is being punished, they are not being punished for paying commissions and certainly those bribes were not paid to the opposition party members. credit us with some modicum of intelligence.
Pay us our locked funs that is what we Ghanaians want and anybody who made promise to pay our locked up funds is the one we will VOTE for com 7/12/2020 PERIOD
Esq what we are talking about here is a potential 5 Million Euros of which over 3 Million Euros was paid. No one has taken one pound no wo ka no de3 eye anansesem ooo, efiri se yen ka pound biara asem. It is about Euros in buses that fly in the air asem na ye ka wo ha no oooo
Mr. Human Being nobody has called you ooo. So just chill and stop panicking.