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Former President John Dramani Mahama has recapped what led to the purchase of the two aircraft by the government of Ghana in the infamous Airbus scandal.

According to Mr Mahama, decisions leading to the acquisition of the Airbus aircraft were conducted by a very competent team at the military headquarters, stressing that no one was induced or coerce during the entire the process.

“Some of our gallant and highly efficient officers who composed the technical team are still in active service in the military and I reject any idea that they have arrived at their decisions through inducement or coercion by any person,” he said.

UK Ruling

It would be recalled that on Friday, February 1, UK’s Royal Courts of Justice found Dutch firm Airbus SE guilty of paying bribes in shady deals in some countries including Ghana, South Korea, Mexico, Colombia and Malaysia.

For Ghana, the scandal involved government officials in 2011 and 2015 who negotiated for the deal with Airbus agents including Samuel Mahama believed to be a brother of former President John Mahama.

“Between 2009 and 2015 an Airbus defence company 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 military transport aircraft to the Government of Ghana,” the ruling on Ghana’s deal read in part.

“A number of Airbus employees knew that Intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Official 1, who was a key decision maker in respect of the proposed sales. A number of Airbus employees made or promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million to Intermediary 5.”

Mills Assigned Responsibility To Me

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Mahama said, prior to the acquisition of the aircraft and other equipment, Ghana’s security services required retooling, therefore as Vice-President between January 7, 2009 and July 24, 2012, he was assigned responsibility for the Ghana Armed Forces Council and the Police Council by the then President John Evans Atta Mills, who retained the Chairmanship of the National Security Council.

“The Police Service had an ageing fleet of Peugeot and Mahindra vehicles, the Ghana Navy had no vessel with which to patrol our coastal waters, the Ghana Air Force had only one functional 37-year-old F27 aircraft, which was still flying, only because of the ingenuity of our aeronautical engineers,” he said.

"...the Infantry Brigade of the Ghana Army relied on old Dongfeng trucks and a fleet of smoking pick-up vehicles, the Prisons Service, the Ghana Immigration Service, and the National Security Council Secretariat were virtually immobile due to lack of equipment.”

“All the processes and negotiations by the government in the acquisition of the aircraft were conducted directly with Airbus and my administration without any untoward influence either directly or indirectly through any agents it may have appointed. Indeed, nowhere in the available UK Court Documents has it been said that Airbus paid any public or government official on the side for the purchase of the aircraft,” he stated.