I didn't sell siezed cocaine-Abass

Abass (left) and Tagor (right) being escorted to the Fast Track High Court


By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday July 26, 2007
Alhaji Issah Abass, one of the two men standing trial for narcotic offences yesterday denied a prosecution suggestion that he was selling cocaine seized by Ben Ndego of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).

Abass said that he was only an informant for the NACOB and added that Ndego sometimes met him on his official duties but the officer did not give him cocaine to sell.

Abass was testifying under cross-examination in the case in which he and Kwabena Amaning, popularly called Tagor, have been charged with having knowledge about 76 parcels of cocaine missing from the MV Benjamin vessel.

Tagor and Abass were among 14 people recommended for prosecution by the Justice Georgina Wood Committee set up by the Ministry of the Interior last year, to investigate the case of 77 parcels of cocaine brought into the country by M.V. Benjamin vessel, and another quantity of the substance seized from a house at East Legon in Accra in November 2005.

The 77 parcels of cocaine were brought into the country on April 26, last year, but 76 disappeared at the break waters of the Tema port before the security agencies could intercept the vessel.

Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, and supply of narcotic drugs.

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 in prison custody.

Cross-examined by Ms. Getrude Aikins, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Abass told the court that he is not a cocaine dealer.

“If I were one, the Police Administration will not give me a contract to supply them items,” he stated.

“I am a genuine businessman. The current Attorney-General, Mr. Joe Ghartey and Abraham Osei Aidoo, Member of Parliament for Tema West, were once my lawyers,” he said.

Abass told the packed court that his co-operation with the police to track down Sheriff Asem Darke, who is believed to be behind the importation of the 77 parcels of cocaine, was not an act of vengeance.

“Sheriff was a wanted man at the time I assisted the police and the whole nation was looking for him.”

When it was suggested to him that Col. Isaac Akuoku (rtd), Executive Officer of NACOB, and Ndego both on interdiction, had told the committee that they did not know the source of the secret tape recording made at ACP Kofi Boakye’s residence at Kanda, Accra, Abass said, “I will be surprised they said this because it was Ndego who sent me to do the recording and I handed the cassette to the two.”

“It is true I did the recording at ACP Boakye’s residence,” he insisted, adding “I do not find it hard to speak the truth.”

He repeated in court that he lied to the Georgina Wood Committee.

He said he did the secret recording in May and appeared before the committee in late July, adding that “at that place we were tight-lipped and did not want to open up.”

Abass said that he and Tagor had been friends for a long time but at the committee he had said he met Tagor only three times and had also heard about the secret recording when ACP Boakye called him from Germany in 2006 to enquire whether he had done it.

“I said all these to the committee because we knew what we were doing and if we had not been arrested the truth would have come out.”

Abass further told the court, presided over by Justice Jones Dorse of the Court of Appeal, that he had refused to tell the police the true story because the initial investigator of the case, Inspector Justice Oppong, was ACP Boakye’s boy.

“I did not feel comfortable confiding in Oppong that I did the recording since the investigator is under ACP Boakye who is the Director of Police Operations.”

Abass said that after the recording, he listened to the tape before sending it to NACOB and at a meeting later with Tagor they realised that ACP Boakye did not know anything about the missing 77 parcels of cocaine.

“Tagor and I did not leave the meeting with a defined strategy to find the missing 76 parcels of cocaine and enjoy it. It was ACP Boakye who asked us to put our ears to the ground,” he said.

Abass claimed that the confessions he made on the tape recording were part of the baiting game but the prosecution said it was a desperate attempt to retract those confessions.

The prosecution said for instance, that it was able to locate Chris Archer, the second prosecution witness whom Abass had said on the tape that Tagor’s driver bought his house for 140,000 dollars.

Abass told the court that he had two houses at Tema Communities 11 and 18, but the prosecution submitted that he had another commercial accommodation at Community 11 and owns three vessels.

He had said in his evidence-in-chief that was Kwabena Acheampong, the first prosecution witness, who stood surety for him at the Police Headquarters in Accra when he was first arrested in connection with this case.

But under cross-examination yesterday, Abass said it was one Ahmed who stood surety for him and that Acheampong only drove him home.

The prosecution also submitted that they had documents to prove that Abass owned the vessels, but the accused said it was a partnership agreement between him and some Greek counterparts.

The prosecution said Abass bought the first vessel, MV Sisina, for four million dollars, the second, MV Elli, for 800,000 dollars and the third for 1.5 million dollars.

Prosecution said also that Abass used his company, Issardis Ventures, as a front and had not paid tax to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Abass claimed that his company did not pay tax because the vessels were fishing in foreign waters.

Sitting continues on July 31.