Samuel Abu Jinapor, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked Lebanese Ambassador Maher Kheir to intervene in the Gran Canaria flights scandal.
The controversy involves allegations of illicit activities linked to AirMed and Cavok Air flights.
In a social media post, he wrote
“Today, Tuesday, 8th April, 2025, in my capacity as the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, I, formally wrote, for and on behalf of the Minority Caucus on the Committee, to the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, and Ambassador of the Republic of Lebanon to Ghana, H.E. Maher Kheir, to intervene in the ongoing Gran Canaria flights scandal, by using diplomatic channels to collaborate with the Ghanaian security and intelligence community to unravel the puzzle, conundrum and controversy surrounding the matter.
This follows the Minority Caucus’ Press Conference on 1st April, 2025 on some critical security issues in the country, including the controversial landing of AirMed and Cavok Air flights allegedly carrying suspected illicit goods and money. Following the Press Conference, the President of the Republic, rightly, directed the state investigative agencies to investigate the matter. Indeed, several well-meaning, patriotic and concerned Ghanaians, security experts, and the international community, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have called for thorough investigations into the matter.
Unfortunately, even before these investigations could commence, the Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Hon. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, attempted to make a U-turn by dismissing the allegations, calling the investigations “a waste of time,” and insinuating that the President did not mean it when he called for investigations into the matter.
Today, independent checks have confirmed the Minority’s claims that the two AirMed flights, flew to KIA straight from Gran Canaria, contrary to the Minister’s claim that the flight came from Luanda. Questions have, also, been raised about the activity history of the Cavok flights that the Minister referenced, as searches have not shown that these flights flew into the country on the said dates. These and many more questions call for thorough investigations to unravel the mystery behind the movement of these flights.
Ghana is party to several international treaties and conventions which impose an obligation on us to fight transnational organised crimes such as illicit drug trade and money laundering. These include the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 (as amended by the 1972 Protocol), the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971, the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988 (the Vienna Convention), and the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, 2000.
In the past few years, we have adopted legislative, regulatory and administrative measures necessary to curb illicit traffic of drugs and money laundering, including the enactment of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019), which elevated the erstwhile Narcotics Control Board to a Commission, and empowered it to prevent illicit trade in drugs, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044), which consolidated laws relating to the prohibition of money laundering and re-established the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) with enhanced powers to deal with money laundering.
Transnational organised crime, particularly, involving illicit traffic in drugs and money-laundering, have serious effects, not only on our country, but on global security and peace. It is, therefore, important to continue to work with the international community to ensure the implementation of these laws to prevent Ghana from becoming a transit point for the movement of illicit drugs and proceeds therefrom. Such a situation could have serious political, economic and diplomatic implications for our country, and an already troubled region.”
