President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that Martin Amidu’s unilateral decision to shelve investigation of former President John Dramani Mahama in the Airbus scandal is without legal and moral basis.

According to the President, no law exists to corroborate Amidu’s claim that due to Mahama’s role in the 2020 elections, he could not be investigated.

The President reminded Amidu of the fact that his ability to take such a decision without recourse to the presidency is proof that the president never interfered with his work.

“Indeed, even when you erroneously and without moral or legal basis decided to confer immunity from investigation and prosecution on the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, in connection with the infamous five million Euro Airbus bribery affair, by refusing to investigate him on the clearly untenable grounds of he being a candidate for President, neither the President nor any member of the Executive challenged that strange exercise of your discretion,” the President said in a statement.

Nana Akufo-Addo said that although he could have benefited politically from the investigations, he decided to remain mute because he did not want to be cited for interference.

“Surely this was in furtherance of the protection of the independence of your office. It is stranger still that you would now suggest that the President, who some may argue, would have benefited politically from the prosecution of John Mahama, has interfered with your independence by suggesting that you apply the rules of natural justice to officials concerned with the Agyapa assessment,” he said.

Martin Amidu in his report on the corruption risk assessment of the Agyapa Royalties deal said that he decided to suspend investigations into the Airbus scandal due to the elections.

He said, “the only reason the former President [Mahama] has not been invited for interrogation (in spite of all threats from some of his followers and lawyers) is the fact that he got himself an insurance as the Presidential candidate of the other largest political party in Ghana."

Mr Amidu resigned from his post on Monday, November 16 citing interference by the President as one of the reasons.