Abbas: I conduct genuine business

Accra, July 25, GNA - Alhaji Issah Abass who is being held with Kwabena Amaning, aka Tagor, for narcotic offences on Wednesday said on Wednesday that he conducted genuine business and rejected suggestions that he was a cocaine dealer.

Abass said: "If I dealt in drugs I would not have gone ahead to supply the Police with items."

Abass, 54, Chief Executive Officer of Gazimbex Ghana Limited and Issadies Company, both in Tema, who was answering questions under cross-examination, denied that he used his business as a frontline for the drug business.

Alhaji Abass and Tagor, 34, described by the prosecution as self-confessed drug barons, are jointly charged for conspiracy and are being tried for drug-related offences.

He is also being held for carrying out prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs while Tagor has additionally been charged for carrying out prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs, buying and supplying of narcotic drugs. They have pleaded not guilty and the court has remanded them in prison custody.

Abass maintained that it was Mr Ben Ndego, interdicted Deputy Chief Executive of the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB), who asked him to record the meeting in ACP Kofi Boakye's house. The accused said they were to make ACP Kofi Boakye to talk and he "really did talk".

Abass, who told the court that he had been a driver's mate and stowaway, denied that Mr Ndego had told the Georgina Wood Committee that he did not know the source of the tape. He said: "My Lord it is not true that Colonel (Isaac) Akuoku, Mr Ndego's boss did not know the source of the tape." Abass debunked the prosecution's assertion that he was Mr Ndego's agent who allegedly sold narcotic drugs.

When the prosecution asked when he did the recordings, Abass told the court that he did that before appearing before the Georgina Wood Commission.

The accused said he was not aware that Mr. Ndego and Colonel Akuoku had been interdicted at the time he appeared before the Committee. According to the accused, he could also not have told Detective Inspector Justice Nana Oppong, the initial investigator, that he (Abass) was the one who recorded the tape.

"I could not have done that because Inspector Oppong was ACP Kofi Boakye's subordinate."

Abass maintained that it was ACP Kofi Boakye who invited him to his house for the meeting.

He said his interaction with Tagor was part of "our plan". "Mr Lord I have known Tagor since 2003 that he (Tagor) arrived in the country. We meet at parties, funerals, washing bays and night clubs," Abass said.

On his property, Abass admitted owning three fishing vessels, including MV Sisina and MV Elli at Tema Harbour. According to the accused, since the vessels were not discharging fish or fishing in Ghana, he did not pay tax to government. "If you export fish in Ghana then you have to pay 15 per cent tax to the Bank of Ghana but I did not pay tax on the vessel because they were not operating in Ghana."

When asked how he managed to acquire the vessels, Abass said he received them from his partners from Greece.

The prosecution, however, showed a bill of sale in connection with one the vessels but Abass said it was not true that he bought it for four million dollars, saying the amount on the bill was part of the agreement he had entered with his Greece partners.

Abass denied he owned Isada Roofing Tiles Company Limited, a firm located in Tema and Kalypso House at Community 11, Tema. The accused refuted the prosecution's assertion that after the meeting at ACP Kofi Boakye's house, he and Tagor agreed to look for the missing cocaine on board the MV Benjamin.

Abass explained that it was ACP Kofi Boakye who instructed them to fish out for the information about the missing cocaine. The accused denied that he made "a real" confession on business he had conducted in the underworld, that is, the drug trade. Abass said it was not true that what he had told the court was a desperate attempt by him to withdraw his confessions.

The case of the prosecution is that the accused are self-confessed drug barons who since 2004 had been actively engaged in activities of promoting and establishing various enterprises relating to narcotic drugs.

The case was adjourned to July 31 for further cross-examination of Abass.