Court adjourns contempt case against IGP

An Accra Circuit Court on Monday adjourned to Friday a case in which the Inspector General of Police was cited for contempt of court for not complying with its order.

The order, which was in connection with an order for the release of an alleged stolen Mercedes Benz car police impounded, was however suspended.

Police had refused to comply with the court's order for Interpol, Ghana to release the car to Joseph Baisie Hazel who had filed a writ against its seizure.

Mr Yaw Apau, the presiding judge, said it was unfortunate that certain pertinent issues raised by the police were not presented to the court leading to earlier decisions. ''The court can make and unmake orders''.

He stressed that when a court issued an order it must be obeyed, pending an application to set it aside adding that it was the court that could rectify injustice.

Mr Apau, however, accepted the Attorney General's Department's apology on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, saying he had no qualms with the police but said the police must present all the facts of a case to the court.

He said the case was not only a matter of ownership of the car but had international implications since it involved Interpol and it was the court's duty to ensure social justice.

Following Counsel for plaintiff, Mr Philips Addison's insistence that the court stuck by its earlier ruling for the release of the vehicle, the court asked him to study the new application from the Attorney General's Office that had raised very serious issues.

Mr Apau expressed surprise that the head of Interpol said he did not see the court's order when he (the judge) personally made sure it was sent to him. Two persons, a Nigerian Mr Ufuoma Omorode and Joseph Baise Haizel, are each laying claim to the car.

While Mr Haizel claims he bought the car from some Nigerians at Osu, Mr Omorode too has presented documents certifying that he purchased the car from Daimler Chrysler in Stuggart Germany through their agents in Lagos.

Mr Omorode said thieves robbed him of the car at gunpoint on December 12, 2000 in Lagos.