Grace Asibi Punched

The Justice Georgina Wood Committee, which branded Grace Asibi, girlfriend of Vasquez Gerardo, a liar and an unreliable witness, must have arrived at the conclusion with no difficulty whatsoever. Grace's testimony at the Georgina Wood Committee suggested that she was a lady with a diabolical intention to destroy, as she went on roping in all people she met on her way to reaping from the East Legon cocaine haul, for which the police say she was the informant.
Grace Asibi, according to the Wood Committee, made an unintelligent pronouncement when she appeared before it, with the claim that she demanded receipt from Superintendent Edward Tabiri for the $170,000 bribe she gave to the police officer. The committee was of the opinion that it does not make sense for somebody who had influenced a police officer with bribe money to request for a receipt.

Grace also claimed that she painstakingly counted all the $170,000 notes, one after the other, before handing over the money to Supt Tabiri, who had led the police team that raided Vasquez's East Legon home for the 559kg cocaine, worth $36 million.

According to her, Tabiri also counted the $170,000 after collecting it from her. The Wood Committee found her narration wholly unbelievable. The committee also described Grace as a “master forger of tapes”, as all the tape recordings she presented were questionable. It said Grace was fond of doctoring tapes to suit her intentions, as she engaged in “cut and paste”, in her haste to nail the police officers she accused of receiving bribe from her. Please, read excerpts of the committee's report.

4.12 The Committee had no difficulty in concluding that GRACE is a very outspoken and assertive person.

The IGP's evidence shows that just after his return from France, GRACE, accompanied by someone the IGP said he had met before, but whose name he could not remember, called on him in his official residence to complain about the seizure of her assets.

4.13 The Committee finds it rather intriguing that notwithstanding the fact that the IGP gave her audience, and took pains to explain to her the options open to her, she never complained to him, about the raw deal meted out to her by his officers.

Even more surprising, she did not report to the IGP that his name was being used by his own men to extort another $300,000 from her!

4.14 On the question of how the bribe itself came to be paid, the Committee found her story rather incredulous.

4.15 Her account was that on the instructions of SUPT. EDWARD TABIRI, she went and waited with the money at the Tetteh Quarshie circle for well over two hours for him to pick her to the police headquarters to collect the bribe.

4.16 The Committee finds that the most incredible part of her story, certainly, is her claim that on arrival at the Police Headquarters, in spite of the fact that SUPT.

EDWARD TABIRI being the leader of the team was bound to be the most sought after officer, he nevertheless abandoned the team and the several boxes of cocaine and, took her into his office to collect the bribe.

But what was even more incredulous was her account of how the money changed hands. The story she invited the Committee to accept in preference to the officer's denial of having collected a bribe, is that in spite of the flurry of activities, SUPT.

EDWARD TABIRI, locked his office door, while she nevertheless took pains to count $170,000. Her further claim is that TABIRI, presumably consumed by greed and avarice, was not just satisfied with taking the money and releasing her to go, but also recounted the entire $170,000!

4.17 Understandably, the Committee needed to know why she gave SUPT. EDWARD TABIRI only part of the money. The Committee found GRACE's explanation even more bizarre. She explained that SUPT.
EDWARD TABIRI was unwilling to give her a receipt for the money she was to give him.

The Committee had little difficulty in dismissing her explanation as being absurd. Who sets out to pay a bribe to a police officer in order to obtain a favour and turns round to demand a receipt for the bribe?

GRACE'S TAPE ON SUPT EDWARD TABIRI

5.1 In order to buttress her claim, GRACE produced a recorded conversation between SUPT. EDWARD TABIRI and herself and which relates to an alleged admission by SUPT. EDWARD TABIRI that he had indeed demanded and received the bribe.

5.2 The Committee however found that the supposedly incriminating part consists of only one sentence from GRACE alleging the fact in a rather not so direct and forthright manner.

5.3 The Committee's decision was informed by the sentences which immediately follow GRACE'S. The Committee finds that there was no clear unambiguous admission by SUPT. EDWARD TABIRI that he had collected a bribe from her.

5.4 On listening to the tape, the Committee found that the first few sentences of the dialogue, appears word for word also at the tail end of the conversation. The Committee's reasonable conclusion was that the tape was an amateurish piece of cut and paste work of different conversations between GRACE and SUPT.EDWARD TABIRI.

The Committee observed that because GRACE was an informant and was being managed as such by the police, she had unlimited access to SUPT.EDWARD TABIRI, who was virtually in charge of the investigations. The evidence shows they have had a number of discussions over various aspects of the case.

5.5 The Committee finds that indeed, the transcript shows a disjointed dialogue between two persons parts of which does not flow sequentially.