The Speaker of Parliament has declined a request to set up a committee to look into the Airbus bribery scandal.
Rt. Hon. Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye explained that Parliament cannot investigate an issue referred to the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Joy News’ Parliamentary correspondent, Joseph Opoku Gakpo, revealed on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, Friday.
The ruling follows a request from Member of Parliament for Assin South, John Ntim Fordjour, for a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal involving some Ghanaian government officials and staff of the European aircraft manufacturing company Airbus.
This request generated heated debate in the House with the Minority arguing that since no government official was indicted in the United Kingdom court ruling, such a probe is needless.
Though most members on the Majority side supported the parliamentary probe, the Speaker ruled that Parliament cannot undertake a parallel investigation with the Special Prosecutor.
The Special Prosecutor has been tasked to among other things unravel the identities of the Ghanaian public officials said to have been bribed by officials of Airbus in exchange for contracts, leading a court in Britain to slap a fine of £3 billion on the company.