Ghana has been cited in an illegal arms deal with a British national convicted of brokering the sale of fighter from China to the government of Ghana.
The jets were procured for the Ghana Armed Forces about six years ago and the purchase has been under investigation by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Authority since 2007.
According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which discovered the deal, 55-year-old Christopher McDowell of Oxfordshire made over $4 million off of the unlicensed sale and shipment of Chinese fighter jets from China to Ghana, in breach of UK trade controls.
In a press release copied to Joy FM, HMRC Assistant Director Peter Millroy said, “with many years’ experience in the industry, McDowell knew what he was doing and illegally brokered the aircraft to Ghana without a valid licence.
HMRC will find people who, like McDowell, decide to break the law and we are delighted that, after an extensive investigation, he has been brought to justice.”
In June 2005, McDowell, the managing director of arms brokers Wellfind Ltd, entered into an agreement with the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) to sell military aircraft to the Ghana Air Force. According to the release, he intentionally ignored the licence requirement.
It further stated that it wasn’t until February 2007 that he submitted a licence application to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), by which time the first two aircraft were in the process of being supplied.
In his defence, McDowell had said he never intended to commit a crime and only breached the UK’s trade controls unknowingly because he did not understand that the law requires him to seek clearance from the DTI prior to trading in controlled goods.
During sentencing, however, Judge Critchlow rejected McDowell’s claim that he did not understand the legislation, pointing out that the defendant had made no attempt to discover the legalities of his enterprise.
Andrew Bennett, the UK customs authority press officer in charge of law enforcement, explained in an exclusive interview with Joy News’ Evans Mensah on Top Story that McDowell “didn’t have a licence to sell across international borders, he supplied two fight jets from China to Ghana and what he should have [done] was to apply to the UK government for a licence to do so, he failed to do that despite knowing, instead, he decided to pocket the money… [but later] he tried to order for a licence…trying to cover his tracks.”
Dr Kwesi Aning, Head of Research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre, underscored the “need to find a middle line that allows Ghana not be embarrassed in such a way” again.
He said the jet deal raises several concerns: “One is about the procurement process itself, which is always selective and shrouded in a little bit of secrecy.
The second relates to Parliament’s role, particularly [the role played] by the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior” before the aircraft were purchased.
Dr Aning also described McDowell’s defence that he did not understand the law as “intriguing” in light of the fact that the British national had dealings with Ghana as far back as 2002.
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