Deputy Minister of Information Pius Hadzide has reaffirmed government’s confidence that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is capable of dealing with the Airbus bribery scandal.
This comes after anti-corruption body, the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, expressed serious concerns over the capacity of the OSP to swiftly conduct investigations into the matter.
Co-chair of the Movement, Edem Senanu told Starr News that Mr Amidu’s office lacks the logistics and human resource to conduct swift inquiry into the scandal giving that the office already has pending cases it has not resolved.
Member of the opposition NDC’s legal team Abraham Amaliba also described the job given to Mr Amidu as difficult.
Mr Hadzide however reassuring said “we remain confident in the capacity of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and we do not see any limitation as far as their ability to do their work is concerned,” Mr Hadzide said.
“The fact of the matter is that, just like all other anti-graft institution in this country, this government, the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has increased largely budgetary allocation to all anti-graft institutions including Office of the Special Prosecutor. Last year alone, a budgetary of over a GHC180 billion was made available to that office.”
“I believe that should they have any challenges, they know who exactly to speak to and I don’t think that, we should take commentary that is substantiated from third parties purporting to speak for the Office of the Special Prosecutor,” he said.
A High Court in London on Friday, January 31, 2020, fined Airbus SE, Europe’s largest aerospace multinational corporation $3.9 billion for admitting to paying bribes to secure deals in 5 countries, including Ghana.
Following this judgement, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has instructed the Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu to conduct an inquiry into the allegations involving Airbus SE and some Ghanaian government officials in relation to the purchase of 3 military aircraft for the Ghana Armed Forces between 2009 and 2015.
