Nana Akufo-Addo has never been arrested for narcotic drugs - Counsel

Accra, Aug. 3, GNA - Nana Bediatuo Asante, Counsel for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP Flagbearer for Election 2012 on Tuesday challenged those who claimed to have evidence that Nana Akufo-Addo was marijuana and or cocaine user and dealer, should either prosecute him or refrain from making such scurrilous allegations.

“We wish to state in the strongest possible terms that those who claim to have evidence that Nana Akufo-Addo is a marijuana and or cocaine user and dealer, some of whom are in Government positions today, should either prosecute him (because these are crimes) or do the decent thing and refrain from making such scurrilous allegations. Fairness and good conscience demand it.”

“We are confident that for those who are genuinely interested in the truth, this matter will now be put to rest,” Nana Bediatuo Asante stated in a statement issued in Accra.

The statement said official document from the US authorities set the records straight in respect of allegations in sections of the media to the effect that Nana Akufo-Addo was once arrested for possession of narcotic drugs at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, in the USA.

“We are instructed to state categorically that the said story is false and malicious. At no point in Nana Akufo-Addo's life has he ever been arrested anywhere in the world for the possession of narcotic drugs,” it added.

The statement recalled that a similar story surfaced in early 2008 during Election 2008 campaign alleging that Nana Akufo-Addo was arrested in New York for possession of cocaine at the time when he was the Foreign Minister of Ghana.

“Our firm, acting for Nana Akufo-Addo, then had occasion to issue a statement denying the said allegation. Nothing much was heard about that allegation until recently when sections of the media affiliated to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) publicised the same allegation ostensibly because it has become clear that such persons and their paymasters are determined to maliciously portray Nana Akufo-Addo as a drug dealer and drug user for misguided political gain,” it said.

“At the time of the initial allegation in 2008, we were instructed to bring to the good people of Ghana the absurdity and utter falsity of the allegation. Our inquiry established without any scintilla of doubt that Nana Akufo-Addo has never been arrested at J.F. Kennedy airport for possession of drugs.

“Indeed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is responsible for security in New York airports, confirmed in writing that Nana Akufo-Addo has never been arrested for anything, let alone drug possession,” the statement added.

“We should like to state that the claim by Nana Akufo-Addo's detractors that he was arrested and let off because he claimed the drugs were for personal use and also because he had diplomatic immunity is mischievous and totally misconceived.”

“The claim that a person can be arrested for drugs at J.F. Kennedy airport and be let go because it was for personal use is false. No such personal use exception to the law is available.

“On the issue of diplomatic immunity, it is clear that no claim of immunity arises unless one has been arrested or charged. It is when an immune person is arrested or charged that he/she can claim immunity. After all, without being arrested, how would security officials know that a person has diplomatic immunity?”

“In the Unites States, the law is no respecter of persons as we have recently seen with the impeachment proceedings against Former President Bill Clinton and the arrest and detention of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the immediate past head of the International Monetary Fund. Why, then, would the Foreign Minister of Ghana receive the kind of preferential treatment being suggested? Ghanaians must treat the allegations with contempt and condemnation,” the statement said.

GNA