How government officials under the Mills-Mahama administration took some €5 million bribe from Airbus for the sale of aircraft to Ghana, here's a full report

This, according to the UK prosecutor, was in a quest by the airline to acquire a proposed sale of military aircraft to Ghana.

The deal under a three-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) was ratified in London’s High Court on Friday, January 31, 2020.

This indicated that the European planemaker avoided prosecution in London in a case that spanned transactions involving more than a dozen countries.

The prosecutor noted that Airbus employees promised success-based commission payments of approximately €5 million to bribe these government officials.

Though names were not mentioned, the court documents revealed that a close relative of a top government official was "a key decision-maker in respect of the proposed sale of three military transport aircraft, adding that; "A number of Airbus employees knew that (Intermediary 5 (five) as listed by the court was a close relative of a government official from Ghana"

"False documentation was created by or with the agreement of Airbus employees in order to support and disguise these payments,” the court's documents further revealed.

Prosecutors added that the company during investigations failed to prevent individuals associated with the company from bribery involving other airlines.

“Between 1 July 2011 and 1 June 2015 Airbus SE failed to prevent persons associated with Airbus SE from bribing others concerned with the purchase of military transport aircraft by the Government of Ghana, where the said bribery was intended to obtain or retain business or advantage in the conduct of business for Airbus SE,” the court’s statement indicated.

Airbus has, hence, been found guilty is expected to pay just under €1 billion ($1.11 billion) in a British settlement to draw a line under a three-and-a-half-year criminal investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption.

Here’s detailed information of the court’s narration on Ghana for the scandal: