The London Crown Court has cleared Mr. Samuel Adam Foster and three others of any wrongdoing as far as the Airbus scandal was concerned. This followed the withdrawal of all charges against the four by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the UK Mirror has reported.
According to a report filed by Ghanaweb sighted by CitizenOne, the ruling came about three months ago and was made public by one of the accused Mr Philip Sean Middlemiss just recently. The four were standing trial for the various roles they played in the sales of three C-295 millitary aircrafts to the Government of Ghana in 2010.
In 2019, the SFO concluded that the UK aircraft giant Airbus SE paid huge somes of money to Ghanaian Government officials and three other UK nationals as middlemen before the contract was executed. The court had since ruled that Airbus SE should pay £50m to the UK government for bribing officials to push it’s contracts through.
For two years, the accused persons have been in and out of court just to clear their reputations. Eventually, SFO undertook a review of their own evidence and concluded that the charges leveled against the persons involved had no basis hence it withdrew them. The UK court has since acquitted and discharged the four persons namely Samuel Adam Foster, Philip Sean Middlemiss, Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux.
But speaking to the UK Mirror, Philip Middlemiss said he was planning to sue the SFO for defamation among others. According to the 58 years old man, he suffered international humiliation and was diagnosed of Post Traumatic Stress Disease (PTSD). He insisted SFO should be made to pay for those difficult times he went through. The others including Samuel Adam Mahama are yet to speak on the ruling.
When the news on Airbus scandal broke in 2019, President Akuffo Addo in what people described as a hasty reaction wrote to then Special Prosecutor, Mr. Martin Amidu to collaborate with UK SFO to investigate the matter in order to clear Ghana’s name. Last year, Mr. Amidu made public his findings and concluded that the Government Official One mentioned in the SFO report was former President Mahama. He added that his brother Samuel Adam Mahama was also one of the intermediaries. He placed him and the three others on nterpol wanted list.
However Mr. Amidu indicated he was unwilling to prosecute fromer President Mahama because the country was preparing for a crucial Election. He said any move to prosecute the flagbearer of the largest opposition could plunge the nation into unresolvable chaos.
Rumours flying recently suggested that the president wanted the new special prosecutor Mr. Kissi Agyabeng to work on the report of his predecessor to bring the matter to a conclusion. However, with the latest developments, the government’s plans to see to the prosecution of former President Mahama for his alleged role in the Airbus scandal is thwarted and mooted.
CitizenOne is following this developing story closely and will update followers as and when needed. Follow me to receive all news updates automatically.
