The former Special Prosecutor,
Martin Amidu, says his decision to hold on to the prosecution of former
president John Mahama had presidential consent.
Martin Amidu said President Nana
Akufo-Addo cannot now turn back to criticise this decision, calling it
“strange” and “untenable.”
President John Mahama had been
indicted in the Special Prosecutor’s report for his alleged role in the Airbus
bribery scandal that involved payments to government officials to facilitate
the procurement of military aircraft.
Martin Amidu resigned suddenly from office, accusing the
president of interfering in his other investigations into another scandal, the
Agyapa Royalties deal.
The presidency has flatly
rejected this accusation and said in the president’s defence that he did not
challenge Martin Amidu’s strange exercise of discretion on the Airbus scandal
after he has “erroneously and without moral or legal basis decided to confer
immunity from the investigation” on Mahama.
As predicted, Martin Amidu has
responded, explaining that the president was involved in that decision because
of its national security implications.
“The President also knows that
he instructed a Minister of State while he the President was on a campaign tour
in the Northern Region to liaise with me to explore whether or not it was
prudent to investigate former President Mahama after he won his party’s
primaries to be its flagbearer. The President was briefed as Chairman of the
National Security Council as to why the investigation had to be held in
abeyance till after the election and he consented to it. I can prove this with
mathematical precision if the President so wishes.”
“I took the decision to
hold in abeyance the investigation of former President John Dramani
Mahama with the knowledge and consent of the President as the
Chairman of the National Security Council on purely national
security grounds and not politics”
No comments