The Intermediaries
When Airbus settled with prosecutors in the UK and the US, the court documents named the company but not the individuals. Foreign officials and agents appear as labels: Government Official 1, Intermediary 5. Four years later, Ghana's own investigation confirmed who they were, and found no basis to charge them.
The graph shows the relationships described in the Office of the Special Prosecutor's report: business relationships, financial transactions, and familial ties. Node size reflects the number of relationships an actor has.
Between 2009 and 2015 Ghana purchased military transport aircraft from Airbus SE. Samuel Adam Foster, brother of John Dramani Mahama, and his partner Philip Sean Middlemiss acted as intermediaries through a company the investigations call Company D. Airbus compliance flagged the familial relationship, and the commission was paid through an intermediary company instead.
Airbus settled with prosecutors in the UK, France, and the US. Ghana's OSP investigated, confirmed the identities behind the pseudonyms in the foreign court documents, found no evidence of bribery, and closed the case without charges.