cCOURT DECLINES APPLICATION TO RELOCATE SINKING VESSEL IN COKE CASE

THE Accra Fast Track High Court hearing the trial of the owner of the MV Benjamin and five crew members in connection with the missing cocaine on board the vessel has declined an application by the prosecution to relocate the vessel at the Tema Harbour because it was sinking.
According to the court, the vessel was not in evidence and, therefore, it could not grant the application, adding that “ if, in the course of the trial, the vessel becomes an exhibit, the court can consider the application”.
The state of the vessel, which the prosecution said was used to import 77 parcels of cocaine, weighing 30 kilogrammes each, into the country, was made known to the court when a Company Inspector of the Registrar-General’s Department appeared to testify in the case in which the owner of the vessel, Joseph Kojo Dawson; Pak Bok Sil, a Korean; Isaac Arhin and Philip Bruce Arhin, both Ghanaians; and Cui Xian Li and Luo Yin Xing, both Chinese, are alleged to have played various roles in the importation of the substance.
They have been charged with various counts of using a property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
Each of them has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been remanded in prison custody.
Mr William Kpobi, a Principal State Attorney, who led the witness in evidence, prayed the court, presided over by Mr Justice Annin Yeboah, a Court of Appeal Judge with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, to consider the motion ex-parte.
He said the vessel had been at the Tema Port since October 2006 and was posing problems for the port authorities and, therefore, he wanted the PSC Shipyard Ltd to be ordered to relocate the vessel to a safer location to avert a looming danger.
Ruling on the application, the court said if the vessel had been seized it should be relocated by whoever seized it, since it was not an exhibit in court.
Mr D. K. Ameley, counsel for the boat owner, wondered why the prosecution wanted to put a responsibility on the court since the vessel was not in evidence.
“If, by the grace of God, we are exonerated at the end of the trial and they have allowed our boat to sink we will sue the state for that,” counsel said.
Later, the witness, Mr Enoch Quaye, said Atico Fisheries Company Ltd was incorporated on November 22, 2002 and commenced business on November 29, that year.
He said the company had as its directors the fugitive cocaine baron, Sheriff Asem Dakeh, Keun Jo Lee and John Wakefield, adding that since its incorporation, the company had never submitted returns, while Evans Charwetey Tsekobi, a brother of Sheriff, was not in the records of the department as being one of the company’s directors.
Asked whether he knew about Dashment Company Ltd, the witness replied in the affirmative and mentioned its shareholders as Joseph Kojo Dawson, John Kwabena Dawson and another person.
He said although the company was incorporated on August 18, 1993, it had since 1998 failed to submit its returns and audited accounts.
Mr Quaye said since that time he had not visited the company and so he would not know whether it was viable or not.