Kofi Akpaloo to drag Martin Amidu to court

Founder and Leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Percival Kofi Akpaloo says his party has decided to take Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to court over his inability to solve the mystery surrounding the Airbus Bribery Scandal.

Mr Akpaloo does not understand why former President John Mahama has not yet been taken to court “when we all know he has taken a bribe”.

“We are taking the Special Prosecutor to court. Why has he delayed in taking the airbus bribery scandal to court? What is he waiting for? We are giving him the last warning to take the issue to court or else we will call for his resignation,” he added while speaking on Peace FM’s ‘The Platform’ programme.

Airbus Paid Bribes To Ghana During Mills-Mahama Administrations

Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace multinational, has admitted paying huge bribes in order to secure contracts in Ghana, under the erstwhile Mills-Mahama administration.

Airbus was found guilty by a High Court in London and is to pay a fine of 3 billion pounds (£3bn) as penalties. Anti-corruption investigators according to The Guardian Report, has described the court’s decision as the largest ever corporate fine for bribery in the world after judges declared the corruption was “grave, pervasive and pernicious.”

Ghana under late President John Atta-Mills in 2011 and former President John Mahama in 2015, acquired three Airbus C295 planes from the company as part of an effort to augment and modernize the fleet of the Ghana Armed Forces.

It emerged that the first order of the military aeroplane arrived in the country on November 17, 2011, followed by a second on March 19, 2012. The last order arrived in the country on December 4, 2015.

President John Dramani Mahama, in November 2014, announced that Ghana was to acquire an additional C295, in addition to other aircraft, including five Super Tucanos, Mi-17s and four Z-9s.

A total of about $150 million was spent in acquiring all the three aircraft, one of which overshot the runway recently. Ghana’s Ministry of Defence stated that the accident happened because the aircraft had not gone for its scheduled maintenance.

Following the naming and involvement of former high-ranking former Ghanaian officials in the scandal, Ghana’s Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu launched further investigations into the matter in February.

Special Prosecutor Airbus Invitation

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in March invited four individuals to assist in investigations into the alleged act of bribery and related offence in the purchase of three aircrafts from Airbus SE for Ghana.

A public notice by the OSP said the individuals identified by acronym in the Statement of Facts and accepted as findings of fact in a judgement of the UK Crown Court are to assist in the investigation of corruption and corruption-related offences in the purchase of the Aircraft.

A public notice by the OSP said: “SAMUEL ADAM FOSTER a. k. a. SAMUEL ADAM MAHAMA a UK/Ghanaian citizen, and the three other UK nationals: PHILIP SEAN MIDDLEMISS, LEANNE SARAH DAVIS and SARAH FURNEAUX are hereby invited to assist the Office of the Special Prosecutor in the on-going investigation of bribery and corruption involving in excess of 3,596,523.00 Euros and 1,665,000.00 Euros respectively, and collaborating with Ghanaian public Officers to use their public office for private profit or benefit in the purchase of three (3) C-295 aircraft by the Government of Ghana from Airbus SE”.

Source: Peace FM