Discordant tunes emerging from the camp of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) indicate that former President John Dramani Mahama may not appear before the Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu over the raging Airbus SE €5 million bribery scandal.
This is because a member of the opposition NDC’s legal team, Abraham Amaliba has insisted that the former President will not honour an open invitation of the Special Prosecutor (SP) for interrogation in connection with the Airbus deal.
Mr Martin Amidu recently confirmed former President Mahama as ‘Government Official 1 (GO1)’, who, apparently using his biological brother Samuel Adam Mahama also known as Samuel Adam Foster as a conduit, reportedly took a kickback of over £3.9 million (approximately €5 million) in an airbus purchase deal in Ghana.
He however indicated that he was unable to question Mr Mahama because of the former President’s position as the leader of the biggest opposition party for the 2020 general election.
But lawyer Amaliba said the move by Mr Martin Amidu was politically motivated hence the decision to decline any invitation.
“Martin Amidu seems to be engaging in a fishing expedition, but I think that it is unfortunate that he has turned his office into a political office.
“There are a lot of political undertones in that letter, he did a similar thing in 2016 when he campaigned for Nana Akufo-Addo. He thinks that the time is ripe to do a similar thing,” Amaliba told Accra-based Joy FM.
Mahama’s insult
Former President Mahama last week launched a scathing attack on Mr. Amidu for revealing that he (Mahama) was the Government Official 1 in the Airbus SE global Airbus scandal report.
He described Mr. Amidu’s action as “stupid” and that the Special Prosecutor was a “coward”.
The former president also dared the Special Prosecutor to prosecute him if he was man enough.
He issued the blistering attack on Mr Amidu after he was mentioned as GO1 in a corruption and anti-corruption assessment report on Agyapa deal relating to the Gold Royalties Monetization Transaction under the Minerals Income Investment Act 2018 (Act 978).
In a 64-page document, the Special Prosecutor discovered that “this office has established the identity of elected GO1 to be former President John Dramani Mahama whose brother is Samuel Adam Foster, aka Samuel Adam Mahama.”
Amidu dares Mahama
Meanwhile, Mr Amidu has challenged former President Mahama to “subject” himself for investigation if he thinks he is clean, brave and wise.
The Special Prosecutor reiterated that he was not minding Mr Mahama because of security concerns over the impending general election which the ex-President is a contestant.
According to Mr Amidu, his long public service, spanning various aspects of security and intelligence from February 1982 to January 7, 2001 and July 2009 to January 2012, made him “more experienced in determining when it was not conducive to the national security interest to foolhardily take certain law and order actions.”
In a statement released on Monday in response to Mr. Mahama’s ‘stupidity’ comment on the work of the SP, Mr. Amidu said “the SP owes that exercise of discretion to his vast experience over the years, his responsibility to maintain national stability, his conscience as a patriotic anti-corruption crusading Ghanaian. There is no question of stupidity or cowardice about it.”
According to him, any person aspiring to be President of Ghana for a second term and did not know that “a cardinal principle in security and intelligence is that ‘caution is the better part of valour’ was not and is not worth the vote.”
Passport Guarantor
Mr Amidu reiterated his call on Mahama to man-up and come to his office to prove his innocence in the Airbus bribery scandal.
“Your Excellency, the wise and the brave former President John Mahama, man-up, wise-up, and be brave enough to come with two lawyers of your own choice to be cautioned and interrogated by this Office to demonstrate your valour and wisdom as not being elected Government Official 1 and also as not being the first guarantor to Samuel Adam Mahama’s passport application,” Mr Amidu urged the former President.
He added that “The 64-page Agyapa Royalties Limited report demonstrates clearly that nobody can use me against another citizen.
“Former President Mahama should go back and listen to the vetting by Parliament of the SP and the SP’s interview with ‘Time with David Ampofo’ to be assured that crime would always remain crime no matter whose ass was gored.
“My friendship with the Minister for Finance never stopped me from making a professional assessment on the conduct of the Ministry of Finance in the 64-page Agyapa assessment report.
“I have no brother or friend when it comes to my crusade against preventing corruption and fighting corruption. Ghana first always”.
