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• Phil Middlemiss is one of the people named in the Airbus scandal
• The former star of “Coronation Street” has been the subject of investigations by the British Serious Fraud Office since 2019
• The charges against him were dropped by the SFO about three months ago
British actor Phil Middlemiss explained how he got involved in the Airbus scandal in Ghana.
The former ‘Coronation Street’ star, who recently spoke to the Mirror UK, revealed his woes started when he decided to pay a working visit to an Anglo-Ghanaian in Ghana to explore the grounds and facilities of a film project he was working on in 2009.
He says the film was never shot because the investors pulled out, but he developed a taste for entrepreneurship, starting the process of a theater school, a theater school, a glass factory and even a theme park.
Although he was not able to be successful with most of his projects, he gained a number of contacts with various government departments.
It was during this period, in 2010, that Airbus called on its team to help it sell its C-295 aircraft in Ghana.
Phil told the Mirror UK that “Ghana had expressed interest in buying the plane even before I was there, but getting things done in Africa is a lot different from getting things done here.
“My role was to help Airbus personnel in the country to facilitate meetings, transport and organize visas on arrival, as they usually had to travel on a short-term basis. I would be paid on a commission basis for the successful sale of his planes.
Phil insists he neither received nor offered any illegal inducements during the time he worked for Airbus. He added that although his team visited Airbus headquarters in Paris, they covered the cost of their trip on their own due to the commission and the promise to work long-term with Airbus.
“I never received a single penny and thank goodness I did not receive one. In fact, they never offered it… We were doing it for a commission. When you work with one of the biggest aviation companies in the world, you expect them to know what they are doing.
In May 2020, Ghana said the former Coronation Street actor was wanted over the £ 5million Airbus scandal involving certain government officials, with former President John Mahama named in the deal.
Prior to that, however, Phil says he received a letter from the UK Serious Fraud Office in 2019 for “voluntary bail interview to respond to allegations of bribery and corruption.”
Ghana’s first special prosecutor, Martin Amidu, launched an investigation in 2020 after the publication of the international investigation report. Phil and three others, one of whom is believed to be the brother of former President John Dramani Mahama, have been named as suspects.
“The actor has spent the past two years facing possible lawsuits from the UK’s Serious Fraud Office over allegations of bribery and corruption and the £ 50million sale of three C-295 military jets by global aerospace giant Airbus to Ghanaian government, ”The UK Mirror Reports.
Although he was asked to come and help with the Ghana investigations, Phil decided not to do so as he did not want to be “involved and believes the allegations are unfounded and politically motivated”.
Three months ago, says Phil, he received another letter from the SFO stating “that following a review of the evidence he should not be prosecuted for any offense.”
Background
Former President John Dramani Mahama dominated the news in 2020 after Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace giant, admitted paying huge bribes to secure contracts in Ghana when ‘he was vice-president and then president.
A London High Court found Airbus guilty and fined it three billion pounds (£ 3 billion) as a penalty. Anti-corruption investigators, according to The Guardian, described the court ruling as the biggest corporate corruption fine ever in the world. A judge said the corruption was “serious, pervasive and pernicious”.
The prosecutor declared in court: “Between July 1, 2011 and June 1, 2015, Airbus SE did not prevent persons associated with Airbus SE from bribing others involved in the purchase of military transport aircraft. by the Government of Ghana, where said corruption was intended to obtain or retain business or an advantage in the conduct of the business of Airbus SE “.
Airbus, “between 2009 and 2015, engaged Intermediary 5, a close relative of a senior elected official of the Ghanaian government (Government Official 1), as a business partner in the proposed sale of three planes to the government. from Ghana. A number of Airbus employees were aware that Intermediary 5 was a close relative of Government Representative 1, a key decision maker when it came to sales. A number of Airbus employees have paid or promised success-based commission payments of around £ 5million to the middleman. False documents were created by or with the consent of Airbus employees in order to justify and conceal these payments. The payments were intended to induce or reward an inappropriate favor from the government official 1 to Airbus, ”parts of the prosecution’s case file relating to Ghana read.
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