Withdraw Red Notice Against Samuel Adam Foster – OSP

At a press conference in Accra on Thursday, August 8, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng called on Interpol to withdraw the red notice issued against Samuel Adam Foster, also known as Samuel Adam Mahama. Foster, identified as “Intermediary 5” by a UK court and “Consultant 5” by a US court, is a UK/Ghanaian citizen and brother of former President John Mahama.

 Born Samuel Adam Mahama, he was adopted and moved to the UK in 1972, where he assumed his adoptive parents’ surname at the age of nine.On April 30, 2020, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) requested Interpol’s assistance in issuing a red notice for Foster and three others, which was subsequently published on July 10, 2020.

The OSP also secured a warrant from the Accra Circuit Court for the arrest of the four suspects. However, he clarified that “the Interpol red notice is not an arrest warrant.”

Efforts by the OSP in July 2020 to facilitate Foster’s voluntary return to Ghana for further investigations were unsuccessful. The investigation was paused between November 2020 and July 2021, before resuming in August 2021. 

The OSP confirmed that former President John Mahama was interviewed on January 5, 2024, and the other four suspects, including Samuel Adam Foster, were interviewed outside Ghana on March 24, 2024, all in the presence of legal counsel. The OSP said his investigation was based on decisions from UK and US courts.

Investigations revealed that “an agency relationship existed between Airbus and Foster and his associates by which Samuel Adam Foster and his associates acted as business partners of Airbus in respect of the Airbus Ghana deal and under which Samuel Adam Foster and his associates were to be remunerated.”

“It seems to the OSP that the only reason why the Ghana Airbus deal found its way into the UK and US DPA was the fact that former President Mahama and Samuel Adam Foster were brothers of full blood and that former President Mahama directly participated in commercial communications and meetings with Airbus officials,” he further stated. 

He noted that while Mahama was identified as “Government Official 1” and his brother Samuel Adam Foster as “Intermediary 5,” there was no direct or circumstantial evidence to suggest that Foster and his associates were paid bribes intended for former President Mahama.

The OSP, however, emphasized that the involvement of high-ranking officials and their close associates in such dealings could be seen as influence peddling and a conflict of interest, warning that such practices should not be encouraged.

Background

Ghana bought three military airplanes (C295s) from Airbus. The first aircraft (C295) was received in November 2011. The second aircraft was received in April 2012, and the third in November 2015.

All three purchases were approved by Ghana’s Parliament as part of a drive to modernise Ghana’s Air Force.The deals were said, at the time, to align with the 2009–2012 Strategic Plan of the Ghana Armed Forces.

In 2020, however, former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu launched investigations into the matter, focusing on an agreement to purchase two military transport aircraft for the Ghana Armed Forces under Mahama’s administration.

The Airbus scandal cuts across several countries and has been under scrutiny for years, and Ghana’s acquisition of three military aircraft from Airbus between 2011 and 2015 was central to the controversy. 

The scandal involved bribery and corruption allegations across several countries, with court documents from the UK highlighting how Airbus allegedly bribed intermediaries to secure contracts, with a significant focus on Ghana’s deals.