By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday January 23, 2007
Full trial of Prince Tibu-Darko, the Tema based businessman, charged with the exportation of 3,700 kilogrammes could not be heared at the Fast Track High Court yesterday because the prosecution says it is still conducting investigations.
Mrs. Yvonne Atakora Obuobisah, a Senior State Attorney told the court that “we are still working on the leads that we received and will soon wrap up and present our case”.
“We want the court to grant us one month adjournment to enable us to present a solid case”.
Mr. Gabriel Pwamang, leading the defense counsel said “we cannot begrudge the prosecution for now since this is the first time we are coming to court after we were granted bail”.
Due to the new developments the court presided over by Justice Jones Dotse who also a Court of Appeal adjourned the case until February 27, saying “Let us see how far the prosecution goes”.
Tibu-Darko was in court.
The court on January 9, granted him ¢1 billion bail with two sureties to be justified.
Additionally, the court asked the Medical Officer in charge of Tibu-Darko, who was on admission at the Nyaho Medical Centre, a private clinic in Accra, to inform the Registrar of the court anytime he is discharged or in the event of a transfer to another health facility.
Explaining the reasons for the grant of bail, the judge said the prosecution had failed to gather the necessary facts needed to prosecute the case, saying “the charge preferred against the accused is so serious that there must be concrete facts attached to it”.
He said even though Section 97 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1960 had been amended by Act 714 in order that bail is not granted to people who are arrested for narcotic offences, the law did not specify the conditions under which the court exercised its discretion in the grant of bail.
“If the prosecution is not able to gather all credible materials needed to prosecute the case within a reasonable time then the court’s hand cannot be tied to this new Act with respect to the exercise of its discretion in the grant of bail”.
The court further held that in any trial the facts must correspond with the charges preferred against an accused person “but in this case the charges cannot support the facts as expected”.
The judge further said since investigations into the case commenced the prosecution had failed to name the European country where the accused exported the cocaine to, name the way in which the accused made the export and the officials who effected the arrest and interception of the vessel.
“All this shows that the prosecution is not ready to furnish the court with the facts”.
The prosecution led by Mrs. Yvonne A. Obuobisah, a Senior State Attorney on December 21, indicated to the court that they were no longer opposed to the grant of bail to the accused person due to the fact that he was indisposed.
She had also submitted that they were still investigating the matter saying “there has been a little difficulty in our investigations because we have to go beyond the territorial waters of Ghana”.
They therefore asked the court to exercise its discretion in granting the bail and the setting of conditions that would ensure that Tibu-Darko come back to stand trial.
Mr. Pwamang and Yonnie Kulendi, counsel for Tibu-Darko then renewed their application for bail on the grounds that the continuous detention of the accused without any trial was against his rights and also had affected his health.
The court said the prosecution was served with the application but did not challenge the facts presented by counsel.
Tibu-Darko has pleaded not guilty to one count of carrying out prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs.
He appeared for the first at an Accra Circuit Court on August 16, and has since been on remand.
On November 22, the prosecution entered a "Nolle Prosequi" (unwilling to pursue) in the case. He was however, re-arrested soon after and arraigned him before the Fast Track Court on November 23, last year.
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