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15.12.2011 General News

NDC Hot Over Missing Cocain

By Daily Guide
IGP Paul Tawiah QuayeIGP Paul Tawiah Quaye
15.12.2011 LISTEN

Shocked by the sudden disappearance of 1.018kg cocaine in custody of the police and the judiciary, government has directed the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to investigate the circumstances that led to the cocaine turning into sodium bicarbonate (baking powder). 

'The BNI has been given seven days to submit its report on whether the substance handed over to the court by the Police in September 2011, and which has since been in the custody of the court, is the same substance that was later presented to the Ghana Standards Board for testing,' a statement issued and signed by Information Minister, John Tia Akologu said.

The Vice President, John Mahama, had earlier called on the Inspector-General of Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye, to thoroughly investigate the matter and culprits brought to book when he met the IGP at a public function yesterday.  

There is a tango over where the substance suspected to be cocaine got swapped with the soda or baking powder, leading to the suspect, Nana Ama Martin, standing trial being set free by an Accra circuit court on Thursday.       

 The Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, worried over the dent on the image of the judiciary, has also set up a committee of enquiry to probe how the cocaine kept in the exhibit room at a registrar's office of the circuit court turned into sodium bicarbonate.

The cocaine exhibit, tendered in evidence to the court, got swapped with baking powder, leading to the discharge of the accused person, who had been standing trial since 2008 for possessing narcotics.

The committee, which commences its work today, comprises a Court of Appeal judge, Justice Mrs. Agnes Dodzi, who chairs it, a high court judge, Abdulai Iddrisu, the chief judicial registrar, Nii Boye Kottey and another member.

'The committee will sit tomorrow at the Supreme Court premises and it is open to the public because it has generated public interest,' said the Chief Justice.

'It has seven days to complete its findings,' a statement said.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB), Akrasi Sarpong, said the missing cocaine should be directed to the door steps of the Judiciary.

The 1.018kg of cocaine, according to him, was accepted in evidence by the court without any qualms after the court, as well as the suspect and the defence counsel, had inspected the exhibit and had been well satisfied that its seals were intact.

The investigator who gave evidence was then ordered to break the seal in open court.

The exhibit was then accepted in evidence and the chain of custody shifted from the police to the court, he said.

The police, he stressed, would therefore not take any blame for the missing exhibit since it only changed into baking powder while in the custody of the court.

Akrasi Sarpong said the CJ should make the court to answer for the lapses and everyone connected punished accordingly.

The NACOB, he noted, would also conduct an independent investigation into the matter.

The NACOB boss dared the court to produce the rest of the substance from which samples were taken.

He intimated that the Standards Board would also have to answer why officials would carry out analysis without a forwarding letter from NACOB or the CID Headquarters.

Earlier, the Director-General, CID, Prosper Agblor, told journalists that the suspect, Nana Ama Martin, was arrested by the Panthers Unit of the Police    Headquarters on August 22, 2008 with a slab of a whitish substance suspected to be cocaine.

She was handed over together with the exhibits to the CID Narcotics Unit.

The police, he said, followed due process during investigation regarding the preservation of the exhibit until it was handed over to the court on September 27, 2011.

The police and prosecution, knowing that the charge against the suspect was not bailable, took all necessary steps to ensure that the law was complied with. However, the courts decided to grant bail twice.

DCOP Agblor emphasised that the defence counsel, Kwabla Dogbe Senanu, who is a board member of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), formerly known as SFO, was mounting pressure on the police to perfect the bail granted by Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh. However, after the exhibit was handed over to the court, he stopped pursuing the bail.

Senanu, who is also known as a lead voice in a pro-NDC movement by name Lawyers in Search of Democracy (LINSOD), is reported to have asked Justice Kyei Baffour to call for re-examination after the court kept the cocaine for a day.

The judge granted the request of the counsel only to have a report from the Ghana Standards Board that the sample, which was re-examined, was a baking powder (sodium bicarbonate) instead of cocaine.

BY-Rocklyn Antonio

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