A trail of e-mail messages, a copy of which is at the disposal of the Daily Statesman, has reinforced the veracity of a letter, which confirms that John Dramani Mahama, during his tenure in office as the Vice-President of the country, personally supervised transaction negotiations for the Embraer deal.
The e-mail trail, between one Mike Obuobi, a presidential staffer during the Mills administration and aide to Mr Mahama, and Embraer S.A, shows Mr Obuobi writing to remind the aerospace conglomerate of a letter written by the then Vice-President.
The letter was meant to, among other things, schedule a meeting between the then Vice-President Mahama and Mr Felipe Monteiro, who, at the time was director, Sales and Business Development, Embraer.
NDC denies letter
An April 26 2012 letter, authored and signed by then Vice-President John Mahama, was delivered to the Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft and provides aeronautical services.
The letter has exposed Mr Mahama as the main person behind the deal, even though NDC members have desperately sought to deny the existence of the letter, claiming what is available is fake.
The letter had then Vice-President Mahama expressing concern about some issues that had been raised by Embraer, regarding the purchase.
He had assured Mr Monteiro of his government’s “commitment to complete negotiations” for the aircraft, and went ahead to “request a meeting with you and any of your colleagues in my office in Ghana to urgently address these issues and any outstanding matters that may exist regarding this order and to discuss modalities for the supply of 4 (four) Super Tucanos from Embraer to be used for training of our air force personnel.”
Mr Obuobi, in the e-mail, reminded Mr Monteiro of the Vice-President’s letter requesting the scheduled meeting.
May 4 meeting?
Mr Obuobi, who from one of the mails showed he had had a previous discussion with Mr Monteiro, and a May 4 meeting day agreed upon, requested the Embraer boss to confirm the date for him.
“As you indicated in our conversation, you will be able to honour the invitation on May 4 or thereabout. Kindly confirm the date to enable me update His Excellency’s calendar,” the message read.
Enough evidence
Meanwhile, the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has announced that there is enough reasonable suspicion of corruption and bribery in the Deferred Prosecution Agreement between the European aircraft manufacturing company, Airbus, and the British Serious Fraud Office in which Ghana was featured.
Airbus has confessed to paying bribes to government officials in Ghana, to induce them to secure a contract for the supply of aircraft, under the late Mills and Mahama administrations.
According to the Special Prosecutor, weight of evidence is compelling enough to warrant investigations into the matter.
Mr Martin Amidu said in statement yesterday that his Office has established that referral and the deferred prosecution agreements, and judgments accompanying them, “raise reasonable suspicion of the commission of corruption and corruption-related offences of bribery of public officers and the use of public office by public officers for private profit.”
The statement further pointed out that preliminary investigations was opened into the matter on February 4 2020.
Assistance
Mr Amidu added that the relevant domestic public institutions which can assist in the ongoing investigations have been contacted to provide information and documents under Act 959.
“Contacts have also been initiated with the appropriate foreign authorities as provided by the law for information and documents to assist the ongoing investigation,” he added.
The statement appealed to the general public not to speculate or politicise the disclosures made in the Deferred Prosecution Agreements and Judgments.
This is to allow his Office “to treat the suspected crimes as suspected crimes”, pending the conclusion of the investigation.
Investigations by the Special Prosecutor are expected to be conducted in collaboration with the United Kingdom authorities.
Source: Daily Statesman
