Georgina Wood Committee member testifies in coke trial

A member of the Justice Georgina Wood Committee has denied that the name of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei-Tutu, was mentioned in the recorded conversation which took place in the house of ACP Kofi Boakye and made available to the committee.
Testifying under cross-examination at the Fast Track High Court trying the cocaine case involving Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor, and Alhaji Issah Abbas, Mr Yaw Baah, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumawu, said the title “chief” (Ohene, in Akan ) was mentioned without being specific to any name such as the Asantehene or the Manhyia Palace. He said the chief mentioned on the tape could mean a different person.
He was testifying under cross-examination by Mr Mohammed Atta, counsel for Alhaji Abbas.
Question: The name of the King of Manhyia was mentioned?
Answer: No. What was mentioned was ‘Ohene’ and it means a chief so it could be a different chief.
Question: Did you find any relationship between Alhaji Moro and Manhyia Palace?
Answer: No
Question: Did he appear before the committee?
Answer: Yes
Question: In his testimony he said he was connected with the Manhyia Palace.
Answer: It is never so. He was asked whether he had any linkage with the Otumfuo or whether he had gone to Manhyia Palace to solicit help for Tagor. And in his reply (which was made in Twi), he said the Otumfuo did not tolerate this kind of criminal activities and that if anyone made such an appeal to him, he would apprehend that person and give him out to the police.
Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs, while Alhaji Abbas faces two counts of conspiracy and supply of narcotic drugs.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the counts and have been refused bail by the court.
Kwabena Acheampong, Tagor, Alhaji Abbas, Victor Kisseh, alias Yaw Billah, and Alhaji Moro Mohammed were earlier arraigned at the circuit court for allegedly dealing in narcotic drugs but the prosecution, on Wednesday, November 22, 2006, entered a nolle prosequi, resulting in the discharge of the accused persons.
However, fresh charges were preferred against Tagor and Abbas, leading to their appearance at the Fast Track High Court.
Mr Baah had earlier in his evidence-in-chief identified the recorded conversation which was alleged to have taken place in ACP Boakye’s house.
That was after the tape was played for about five minutes.
There was, however, an objection by counsel for the defence that enough foundation had not been laid for it to be tendered and the court, presided over by Mr Justice Jones Dotse, an Appeal Court judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, overruled the objection.
According to the court, the prosecution did not intend to tender the compact disc and it was important that the tape was played and listened to in order to confirm whether it contained information irrelevant to the case.
Led in evidence by the acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Gertrude Aikins, the witness said the CD was dropped at the Committee by an anonymous person and after listening to it the committee became convinced that the information on it was vital to its work.
Consequently, he said, the committee formally wrote to those persons whose names were mentioned during the conversation to appear before it and testify.
Mr Baah said those who were involved in the conversation included ACP Boakye, Tagor, Alhaji Moro, Kwabena Acheampong and Alhaji Abbas and that the tape was played to their hearing and they admitted that the voice was theirs.
He said the committee recommended 14 people to be prosecuted for their role in the missing cocaine.
During cross-examination by Mr Ellis Owusu-Fordjour, counsel for Tagor, the witness agreed with him that the committee could not discover who sent the CD to the committee or when it was authored and by whom.
He also admitted that no date or time was indicated on the CD but stated that what was of importance to the committee was the relevance of the information it contained.
Mr Baah denied that Tagor did not accept his voice on the tape and said he did admit except that he denied certain aspects which were not audible.
He further denied a suggestion that ACP Boakye told the committee that the tape had been edited and explained that during its work the committee was told that various versions of the tape was in the public domain and being played on radio and when the committee had the chance to listen to what it received, it realised that its duration was between one hour and one-and-a-half hours and in accord with what transpired during the meeting in ACP Boakye’s house.
The witness admitted that although the committee was unable to discover where the 77 parcels of cocaine had been taken to, it was able to establish who its owners were and how it arrived in the country as well as efforts at tackling the narcotic business in the country.
Another prosecution witness, Detective Inspector Charles Adaba testified and said that the case was referred to him for investigation by his superior officers at the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters.
He said that he took delivery of the CD containing the conversation of the meeting in ACP Boakye’s house but he did not succeed in getting the source of the tape because all those he contacted did not help him.
When the prosecution wanted to tender the CD through the investigator, the defence objected to that and the court after hearing the arguments adjourned to March 15, 2007, to give its ruling on the admissibility or otherwise of the tape.