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Tagor, Abass jailed 15 years
each, but court questions handling of ACP Boakye
Accra, Nov. 28, Ghanadot/GNA - Tears flowed at an Accra Fast
Track High Court on Wednesday when two self-confessed drug
barons, Kwabena Amaning aka Tagor, and Alhaji Isaah Abass
were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment each in hard labour.
Relations of the two convicts wept uncontrollably as they
were whisked away under heavy police escort from the
courtroom to begin their sentences.
The judgement caught the accused, prosecution, defence,
journalists and relatives by surprise, as the judgement date
was to have been agreed on Wednesday.
Tagor was in POP and on clutches following an injury he
sustained while playing football in custody.
The court found Tagor guilty for conspiracy, engaging in
prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs because he
confessed to about his drug transactions.
He was, however, acquitted and discharged for buying and
supplying narcotic drugs.
The court presided over by Mr Justice Jones Victor Dotse, a
court of Appeal Judge, also found Abass, 54, guilty for
conspiracy and engaging in prohibited business relating to
narcotic drugs.
The court, however, acquitted and discharged him on charges
of supplying narcotic drugs.
The court ordered that the sentences should take effect from
the day of their arrest. Meanwhile the Serious Fraud Office
last year, confiscated assets of the convicts.
The two were said to have made confessions about their
previous dealing in the drug business at the residence of
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kofi Boakye in May
last year.
The said conversation was recorded and anonymously dropped
at the Georgina Wood Committee set up by the government to
investigate the missing 76 parcels of cocaine on board MV
Benjamin, which docked at Tema last year.
They pleaded not guilty.
Handing down the sentences, the court said it took into
consideration the drug menace in the country and the fact
that the nation was being used as a distribution point and
the harmful effects of drugs among men and women.
"With the upsurge of the drugs in the country it behoves all
of us to come together to fight the drug menace in the
country," the court said.
The court said sentences should be deterrent to others and
corrective adding that it took into consideration the prime
age of the accused persons.
The court noted that sentences were not prescribed by law
and for that matter the court only used its discretion.
The court was quick to say that some portions of the law had
prescribed a minimum of 10 years.
Before handing over the sentences, Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjour,
who represented Tagor, prayed the court to take into
consideration the fact that his client was a first offender
and pleaded that he should be dealt with leniently.
Mr Mohammed Attah who represented Abass drew the attention
of the court of the days his client had spent in custody and
prayed for the minimum sentence.
Ms Gertrude Aikins, Acting Director Public Prosecution (DPP),
drew the court attention to the various stages in the drug
business.
According to her, while the users were fed by pushers, the
pushers were also fed by the barons and prayed the court to
met out punishment befitting the status of drug barons.
Touching on the ACP Kofi Boakye's tape, the High Court court
noted that the defence did not object to the contents of the
tape which was earlier authenticated by an international
forensic voice expert.
It praised the work of the international expert, Professor
John Peter French who had told the court that the said
meeting was conducted in a free environment and the convicts
were not coerced in any way.
The court said it was impressed with the way they took
professional and technical steps to work on the tape which
had not been edited, adding that the transcripts tendered in
evidence had not been in breach of the country’s laws.
It noted that they were authentic, accurate and relevant to
the court during the trial.
On the contents of the tape, the court disputed the
convicts’ assertion that they were baiting ACP Boakye,
adding that, it was a clear conversation and questioned why
accused could confess about their previous drug deals before
getting ACP Boakye to talk.
In the case of ACP Kofi Boakye, the court said it was not
comfortable with the way prosecution was unable to indict
him.
“I agree that the prosecution of persons had been entrusted
to the Attorney General (A-G) and it was only the AG who had
the power to institute criminal action against persons,” the
Court noted.
The court said “as a matter fact the A-G should have called
him as material witness, the failure to call him has been
fatal to the court since most portions on the tape had been
attributed to him.”
In the case of Ben Ndego it did not see the importance of
the accused calling him to testify if Colonel Isaac Akuoku (Rtd)
did not make an impact in the case of the defence.
Touching on the investigations conducted into the matter,
the court commended Detective Inspector Charles Adaba for
good job done.
According to the court Detective Inspector Adaba carried out
strict, professional and detailed investigations by finding
clues to some terminologies such as goods meaning cocaine,
key representing kilogrammes of drugs used in the underworld
of drug barons.
The court disputed assertions by some defence witnesses who
sought to rope Detective Inspector Adaba into the case.
“It was never true that he accompanied Detective Insepector
Justice Oppong, who was assigned to investigate the matter
when they went to Ada to arrest Sheriff Asem Dake aka
Limping Man and the man behind the importation of the 76
parcels of cocaine on board MV Benjamin.
The court however said it was not impressed with the way
Detective Oppong conducted investigation into the matter
when he was asked to arrest Sheriff and the delay in
searching the convicts’ homes.
It urged superiors who were placed at the helm of affairs to
supervise their subordinates in cases such as this.
The court criticised the prosecution’s failure to
investigate the case that Tagor had bought a house for his
driver, the late Nana Kofi.
The prosecution called 11 witnesses to make their case while
the defence team called four.
The case of the prosecution was that the accused were
self-confessed drug barons who, since 2004, had been
actively engaged in activities of promoting and establishing
various enterprises relating to narcotic drug.
In May, last year news broke out about the missing of 76
parcels of cocaine on MV Benjamin/ Adede 11 and security set
out to investigate the matter.
ACP Boakye invited the convicts to his residence at Kanda
where the convicts confessed to previous deals in the drug
business.
The meeting was recorded and a copy of the tape was dropped
at the Georgina Wood Committee set up by government to
investigate the disappearance of the drugs.
GNA
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