Private legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong is calling for a Special Investigation Team to investigate the Airbus Bribery Scandal.
This comes on the back of the President’s order to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate the matter.
The Speaker of Parliament last week put on hold calls for a parliamentary probe into the matter.
But speaking on Citi TV‘s news and current affairs show, The Big Issue, Yaw Oppong stated that Parliament has a duty to investigate the issue.
“Parliament itself has the duty to investigate this matter…because the people came to Parliament and said that one aircraft is 150 million dollars and it turned out that it was padded. So…it is the duty of Parliament to go back and undo what they did because of the allegation of deceit. If any of the allegations are established, it renders that approval itself a nullity,” he said.
He also said a Special Investigation Team will help lay the matter to rest.
“So, it is not good enough for Parliament…to just push the matter at the doorstep of the Executive. I don’t see how there will be any conflict between the two. What I was looking out for is not for the Special Prosecutor to conduct this whole exercise in chambers. There is nothing wrong with setting up a Special Investigation Team to sit in public and conduct the inquiry,” he added.
On January 31, Ghana was cited as one of five countries in which global aerospace group, Airbus SE, allegedly bribed or promised payments to senior officials in exchange for business favours between 2009 and 2015, according to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.
The scandal has caused a political storm in Ghana over accusations of Airbus payments to a relative of a government official in connection with the purchase of military planes.
The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) stated that the said agent had no aerospace experience, having previously worked in football merchandising and as a facilities manager.
It did not say what the agent, who had been helped by two unnamed British television actors, did with the money.
However, the governing New Patriotic Party, (NPP) alleged that the said government official 1 is former President John Dramani Mahama.
Response from NDC
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was in power at the time, has denied the claims.
The party in a statement signed by former Attorney General, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong argued that media reports on the matter did not capture the true reflection of the approved judgement of the case in the UK.
“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.
