Soussoudis' Guns - Court Orders Probe On Permit

An Accra Circuit Tribunal presided over by Judge Imoro Ziblim yesterday ordered the Ghana Police Service to investigate the genuineness of the permit given by the former President Jerry Rawlings to his nephew, Michael Soussoudis, to keep weapons and assorted ammunitions in his house.

The prosecution team, led by Chief Inspector Antwi, challenged the authenticity of the permit, which was issued and stamped by the office of the ex-President on December 31, 2000, which was a Sunday, and expires on December 31, 2001.

However, counsel for the accused, Mr. Amponsah Dadzie, explained to the court that his client provided various security services for the former President for which reason the office of the ex-President issued him with a valid permit to carry guns and other weapons in the discharge of his duty.

Pleading for bail for his client, counsel said that Soussoudis' valid permit to possess weapons has not been recalled and as a law- abiding citizen he received a permit from the police to cover all his weapons. Mr. Amponsah told the court that his client will appear before the court to stand trial and that he will at no material time interfere with investigations.

The court in its ruling ordered the prosecution to investigate the genuineness of the permit issued to the accused by the ex- President and further upheld the bail application by the defence lawyer, saying that the charge is a misdemeanor and the prosecution did not give an indication that they were still investigating. The case was, therefore, adjourned to March 29 for hearing.

Soussoudis, described by his counsel as a gun enthusiast and a weapons collector, was charged with illegally possessing firearms, but he pleaded not guilty and was granted ?20 million bail with two sureties to be justified. Earlier on, the prosecution, while presenting the facts of the case, told the court that some of the arms retrieved from the accused had not been licensed.

Narrating the circumstances which led to the operation 'etuo mu wo sum', he said that following the upsurge of armed robbery in the metropolis the government of Ghana, in its bid to curb the armed robbery, gave a moratorium to people possessing illegal arms to surrender them to the police. Antwi said that after the moratorium the police team went to the house of the accused on two occasions and retrieved a quantity of arms and assorted ammunitions .

The prosecutor, who had brought some of the unlicensed arms seized from the house of the accused to the court, said that the police became suspicious of the accused when on February 16, this year, he came to renew the licences of some of his guns to beat the deadline for the submission of illegal weapons.

The police then suspected that the accused might have more guns in his house and consequently, on February 24 and 28, went to his house for a search which led to the discovery of the weapons. Meanwhile the police are yet to charge Soussoudis for concealing a revolver on his body when he went to the house of the President, Mr. J. A Kufuor.