Prosecution not ready to begin MV Benjamin cocaine case – State Attorney

Mr Owusu Ameyaw, a State Attorney on Wednesday told the Accra Circuit Court hearing the case of Christian Asem Darkeh, the alleged importer of the cocaine on the MV Benjamin, that the prosecution was not yet ready to commence the trial.

He said due to the sophisticated nature of the case, the prosecution would like to reconcile the new docket with the old one to enable them to start the prosecution.

Mr Ameyaw said investigations on the matter were still on-going and therefore, prayed the court to give them time to complete the process.

Mr George Heward Mills, Counsel for Darkeh, who was not happy with the continuous delay of the matter said since February 7, when his client was brought to court the prosecution had been adjourning the case till now, claiming they were still investigating.

He said he did not understand why six years down the line the prosecution insisted that they were still investigating the matter.

Mr Heward Mills said his client had done nothing wrong and was innocent of the charges brought against him.

He said Darkeh was arrested at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital where he had gone to seek medical attention.

Mr Heward Mills prayed the court to admit his client to bail because the liberty of the accused was paramount and that the bail condition should not be used to deny him this right.

Miss Audrey Kokuvi Tay, the trial judge, remanded the accused into prison custody to re-appear on April 4.

The facts are that sometime in April 2006, intelligence report gathered indicated that a shipping vessel, MV Benjamin had been spotted on the high seas carrying about 77 parcels of cocaine heading towards Ghana’s coast.

On midnight of April 26, 2006, the said vessel docked at Kpone/Tema and discharged the cocaine, which was off-loaded into a waiting vehicle and taken away.

DSP Annor prosecuting said investigations led to the arrest of some suspects, who were tried, convicted and sentenced to various prison terms.

He said during investigations, Darkeh’s name featured prominently as the importer and owner as well as the person who sent the MV Benjamin from Ghana and paid 150,000 dollars to use another vessel from Guinea.

The prosecutor said the accused carted the cocaine parcels away upon arrival of the ship at Kpone.

DSP Annor said on February 2, this year, the accused was arrested at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra upon a tip-off after being on the run since 2006.

Source: GNA