General News of Tuesday, 4 February 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Parliament may demand forensic audit of aircrafts in Airbus scandal – Majority Leader

Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Majority Leader in Parliament Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Majority Leader in Parliament

Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, has suggested that Parliament might opt for a forensic audit into the alleged bribery scandal involving the purchase of aircrafts between Airline manufacture, Airbus, and government officials under the Mahama administration.

According to him, asides the President directing the matter to the Special Prosecutor, Parliament could explore the options of calling for a bi-partisan committee with professional competence on the matter.

“We [Parliament] could call for a forensic audit of the purchase of those planes to be the done by the Auditor General, a commission if we so wish or a bi-partisan committee of parliament with professional competence or invite other professions with the relevant knowledge on these matters to come and provide evidence to that Parliamentary committee,” he said on CitiFM’s Eye Witness News yesterday.

When asked if parliament has settled on the next line of action regarding the matter, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said; “I need to have some conversations with my colleague the minority leader and usually you need to build some consensus on the way forward but If they’re not willing, then we [Parliament] can use the majority to haul the current minister [Defense Minister] into parliament to answer questions.”

Last week, Ghana was cited by a UK court document revealing that some top representatives from the government of Ghana under the John Mahama administration took bribes to procure three Airbus C-295 aircrafts for the Ghana Army.

Yesterday, the ruling NPP party held a press conference in Accra claiming that one Samuel Adams Mahama is the true face behind the “Intermediary 5” in the controversial Airbus scandal.

According to the party, Samuel Mahama is the long-lost brother of former president John Mahama who played “go-between” services between Airbus and “Government Official 1” as cited in the court documents.