By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, 22 June 2007
The prosecution in the trial of Kwabena Amaning, also known as Tagor, and Alhaji Issah Abass charged with having knowledge about the missing cocaine from the MV Benjamin vessel, yesterday justified the reasons for not inviting ACP Kofi Boakye, former Director of Police Operations to testify as witness.
Ms. Getrude Aikins, acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), said ACP Boakye was not brought to testify because "as far as we are concerned, he was not a material witness."
"The defence team cannot by their desire force a material witness on us. A case is not won on multiplicity of witnesses. The prosecution can use only one credible witness to establish a case against an accused person and that is exactly what we are seeking to do.
Ms. Aikins was replying a submission of "no case" application filed by counsel for Tagor and Abass at the Fast Track High Court trying the case.
Tagor and Abass were among people recommended for prosecution by the Justice Georgina Wood Committee set up by the Ministry of the Interior last year to investigate the missing of 76 parcels of cocaine and another quantity seized from a house at East Legon in Accra in November 2005.
Before the committee commenced sitting, a meeting allegedly held at the residence of ACP Boakye with four people, including Tagor and Abass was said to have been secretly recorded by an unknown person and that formed the basis for the establishment of the committee.
Seventy-seven parcels of cocaine were brought into the country in the vessel on April 26, last year, but 76 of them got missing at the Tema Port before security agencies intercepted the vessel.
Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supply of narcotic drugs, while Abass is charged with three counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs and supply of narcotic drugs.
The two have pleaded not guilty and are currently in prison custody.
Ms. Aikins submitted that the meeting between ACP Boakye and the suspected drug dealers was not official and there was no official record of any such meeting as the defense counsel wanted the court to believe.
She also said the way in which the meeting began with the mentioning of hard drinks, the subject matter which was to recover the missing cocaine and enjoy and the rather vile language used did not suggest an official meeting.
"We had witnesses to help us prove the charges preferred against the accused persons and ACP Boakye would not have played any role in that.
"We have not only established a case against Tagor and Abass but have also proven it beyond reasonable doubt, and by this it was not necessary for counsel to make the submission of ‘no case,’ she said.
On the conspiracy charge, Ms. Aikins said some confessions made by the accused persons on the recorded conversation where the participants indicated their preparedness to move in unison to find the missing cocaine justified the charges under section 56 ( c ) of Act 236 of the Narcotics and Sections Law.
She said utterances such as "let us find amicable way of tracing the good" and "we should all be one" among others, in the tape were clear cases of conspiracy to find the cocaine.
"By the time the meeting closed, the participants left with a clearly defined strategy and co-operation for the common purpose of recovering the missing cocaine from the vessel and share it,"
Ms. Aikins said "a court can convict solely on the confessions of an accused person and we have been able to prove that the confessions were made voluntarily"
She said all the prosecution witnesses were truthful and forthright to the court and added that "after thorough investigations, we evaluated every evidence before preferring the charges against them."
The court presided over by Justice Jones Dotse of the Court of Appeal is expected to rule on the "submission of no case" on June 27.
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