The New Special Prosecutor, Lawyer Kissi Agyebeng is expected to set his sight on stalled investigations involving former President John Dramani Mahama regarding the Airbus SE scandal which his predecessor had held in abeyance.
Sources tell MyNewsGh.com that one of the cases that the Akufo-Addo government has a keen interest in is the Airbus saga allegedly involving John Mahama as Government Official One and the New SP has instructions resurrect the matter.
John Mahama is especially the focus of the New SP since it emerged he is likely to run for President again in 2024.
The New SP is expected to be fully briefed on the matter when he is sworn in this week.
This comes after Parliament approved the nomination of Kissi Agyebeng for the position of Special Prosecutor. The private legal practitioner is now replacing Martin Amidu, who resigned from the position in November 2020.
He is expected to be sworn in this week to begin work with his initial focus to be on the former President and Airbus saga. The Office of the OSP has already written to the UK Serious Fraud Office for more information which would have been basis for evidence gathering.
Mahama as Government Official 1
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) last year said it has established the identity of the elected Government official 1 in the Airbus SE scandal as former President John Dramani Mahama – it is on this note Kissi Agyebeng is being urged to go after the former President.
According to the former SP, Mr Martin Amidu, “the only reason the former President [Mahama] has not been invited for interrogation (in spite of all threats from some of his followers and lawyers) is the fact that he got himself an insurance as the Presidential candidate of the other largest political party in Ghana.”
The OSP also issued court warrants of arrest and an Interpol Red Alert Notice on Samuel Adam Mahama and Others (known as the Airbus SE – Ghana Bribery Scandal involving the then Government of Ghana).
John Mahama is also a subject of investigations over forgeries in a transaction to obtain a Ghanaian passport for Samuel Adam Mahama, a “blood brother” of the former President. This particular case is of litte interest to the new SP.
Akufo-Addo behind Mahama prosecution
Last year, it came to light President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo keenly wanted the then Special Prosecutor to investigate former President John Mahama after he became the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It was revealed Nana Akufo-Addo impressed upon Martin to probe the NDC presidential candidate over the Airbus scandal to the point where the President instructed a Minister of State while he the President was on a campaign tour in the Northern Region to liaise with Amidu to explore whether or not it was prudent to investigate former President Mahama after he won his party’s primaries to be its flagbearer.
Amidu revealed he briefed Akufo-Addo as to why the investigation had to be held in abeyance till after the election and he consented to it daring the President to deny it, lest he provided proof of “mathematical precision” if the President dared.