North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has advised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and their Communications Director Yaw Buaben Asamoa to desist from alleging that John Mahama is Government official 1 in the Airbus corruption scandal.
Mr Asamoa in a press conference organized by the NPP yesterday called out John Mahama and said everything points to him that he was involved in the deal with Airbus and thus has to come out and speak on the issue.
After the conference, Sammy Gyamfi who is the Communications Director, for the NDC said they are in talks with their lawyers to sue Yaw Buaben Asamoa.
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Mr Ablakwa speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show said the allegations Mr Asamoa made were reckless.
“If anybody wants to add anything new beyond the document we all have, that person should bring it forward. But to just speculate and engage in reckless conducts like what Buaben Asamoa did yesterday is wrong, in the Anas Number 12, Nyantakyi made all sorts of allegations but I never concluded and only asked for further investigation on the matter”. he said
Mr Ablakwa also added that he believes Mahama is not government official 1 fingered in the scandal.
“So far as I am concern, Mr Mahama is not government official 1, I know for a fact he has always conducted himself above board, as at now I don’t want to engage in speculations and suspicions, so we will all know who that official is after the investigations”.
Last week, Airbus entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, with the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which was investigating the company for bribing or failing to prevent corruption in transactions in five countries, including Ghana.
Under the agreement, the British SFO agreed to suspend the prosecution of Airbus for a period of three years. If Airbus complies with the terms of the agreement within the period, the prosecution will be discontinued.
The mention of Ghana in the agreement has sparked a flurry of political activity with the opposition NDC issuing a statement denying that its officials in the erstwhile Mills and Mahama administrations were involved in any corruption with Airbus, which supplied military aircraft to Ghana in 2012.
The deferred prosecution agreement didn’t specifically name any officials who might have been bribed or corrupted during Ghana’s negotiations with Airbus but it refers to personalities involved as Government Official 1 (a high-ranking elected public figure) and Intermediary 5 (a British national and close relative of Government Official 1), among others.
READ ALSO: NDC to sue Buaben Asamoa over Mahama Airbus allegations
The governing New Patriotic Party believes that the person referred to as Government Official One is former President John Mahama.
