The Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu, has dared former President John Dramani Mahama to voluntarily submit himself for interrogation in connection with the Airbus bribery scandal if he believes he is, indeed, not the famous Government Official 1 in the Airbus scandal.

Mr Amidu, in his corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment report of the controversial Agyapa Royalty deal, identified the former President as ‘Government Official 1’.

He said he is not interrogating Mr Mahama because the former president is the presidential candidate of the biggest opposition party in the country in the upcoming elections.

Reacting to Mr Amidu’s report, Mr Mahama described Mr Amidu as a coward, adding that it was ‘stupid’ for the Special Prosecutor to sneak an Airbus scandal into the Agyapa report for equalisation because the Agyapa report was damning of the sitting government.   

He also said in an interview that: “I’m disappointed in Martin Amidu for putting that paragraph in his report to equalise things. No financial benefit accrued to me. Not a single dollar...We are talking about deferred prosecution agreement in which nobody’s names were mentioned and yet there’s been an inference that it must be this person, it must be that person and so legally, he doesn’t even have any basis to proceed, on what basis, on what document is he proceeding?

Mr Mahama further rubbished assertions that Mr Amidu had probed the Airbus scandal to have identified him as ‘Government Official 1’.

“What investigations has he done? Who has he spoken to? What investigation has he conducted? He should come out and tell us…”

But, Mr Amidu, in a fresh statement issued on Monday, 9 November 2020, insisted Mr Mahama can subject himself to interrogation if he feels he is innocent.  

“Your Excellency, the wise and the brave former President John Dramani 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 said.

Read Mr Amidu’s full statement below: