Airbus Scandal: Yaw Buaben's comment pathetic and reckless - Sammy Gyamfi

Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has expressed disappointment at the low level of intelligence displayed by the New Patriotic Party’s Director of Communications, Yaw Buaben Asamoa at their recently held press conference in Accra on Monday, February 3, 2020.

During the conference, the lawyer claimed Samuel Adams Mahama was the Intermediary 5 stated in the Airbus scandal which took place between 2009 and 2015. This intermediary 5 was named to be the brother of the yet to be known government official 1.

The NPP stalwart further called on former President Mahama to come out publicly to speak on the issue levelled against him.

In responding to the claim made by the NPP stalwart, the National Communications Director of the NDC stated that "no serious-minded person would draw conclusions based on conjecture and wilful misinterpretation of the approved judgement of the UK Crown Court".

He emphasised that "no ex-government official of Ghana is cited in any part of the approved judgements for receiving a bribe or committing any offence. In fact, not even the unnamed government official 1 is cited in the report or approved judgement for demanding or receiving a bribe".

Sammy Gyamfi, therefore, asked Ghanaians to treat with contempt Yaw Buaben Asamoa's "pathetic and reckless" statements levelled against Mahama on the now famous Airbus scandal.

On January 21, 2020, the Crown Court of England in Southwark fined aeroplane manufacturer Airbus over £3 billion after a Differed Prosecution Agreement was reached between the Serious Fraud Office and Airbus SE, a subsidiary of Airbus, after investigations revealed the company had engaged in a scheme which involved bribing its way to lucrative contracts in countries such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Ghana.

In the case of Ghana, it was revealed that the company in a bid to obtain and maintain contracts with the government, either bribed or agreed to bribe intermediaries with close links to a high-ranking state official, who was said to have an influence over the country’s aircraft purchase plans between 2011 and 2015.