A Constitutional Lawyer Justice Srem-Sai has said that the report of the Special Prosecutor on the Airbus scandal points to two key facts that President Akufo Addo is not ignorant of the rules of conflict of interest and also that the criminal process can be started on the back of the sole fact that a relative of a high government official is involved in government transactions.
Assessing the SOP report, he stated that the factual basis for President Akufo Addo’s criminal complaint to the OSP was not that there was evidence of actual bribery, and not that a financial loss had been caused.
His only basis for the complaint was that John Mahama, as Vice President, had his brother on the other side of the transaction.
The OSP at a press briefing on Thursday, August 8 said Mahama was identified as Government Official One by the UK and US courts during their investigations.
“The OSP confirms the identity of the following individuals. The individual described as Government official 1 by the UK court and individual one by the US court is John Dramani Mahama. He is a citizen of Ghana and was the Vice-president of Ghana from 7 January 2009 to 24 July 2012,” the OSP stated.
John Dramani Mahama, a former President and now flag bearer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was Vice President at the time the incident happened.
Justice Srem-Sai said “It tells us that the criminal process can be started on the back of the sole fact that a relative of a high government official is involved in government transactions,” he said in a Facebook post.
Below is his full post…
AIRBUS, we know a few things:
(1) We know that it was President Akufo Addo, himself, who accused JM of receiving bribe from Airbus SE – he personally instructed his Secretary (his relative) to file a criminal complaint at the OSP.
(2) We also know that his complaint was based solely on the UK and the US court judgements and the deferred prosecution agreements which were signed between the UK and US prosecutors and Airbus SE.
(3) We know that a respectable reading of these court documents shows that there’s no actual evidence of bribery; and, certainly, no evidence that Ghana has lost some money in the transaction.
(4) We know that from his high office, President Akufo Addo knew that JM was the “Government Official 1” in the court documents, before causing the criminal complaint to be filed.
(5) We, again, know from the court documents that the only evidence on which the allegation of bribery or wrongdoing was based is that one of the Airbus agents on the transaction was JM’s relative.
So, clearly, the factual basis for President Akufo Addo’s criminal complaint to the OSP was NOT that there was evidence of actual bribery, and NOT that a financial loss has been caused. His only basis for the complaint was that JM, as Vice President, had his brother on the other side of the transaction.
What does this tell us? It tells 2 things:
(A) It tells us that President Akufo Addo is not ignorant of the rules of conflict of interest; and, certainly, not ignorant that involving a relative in public office business promotes corruption.
But most importantly:
(B) It tells us that the criminal process can be started on the back of the sole fact that a relative of a high government official is involved in government transactions.
I leave it here.
