Court to rule on Asem Dakey’s case April 10
The Accra Fast Track High Court yesterday deferred to April 10, 2014, its judgement in the case involving Christian Sheriff Asem Dakey, the man at the centre of the shipment and disappearance of 77 parcels of cocaine.
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The court, presided over by Mr Justice Habib Logoh, did not assign any reason for the deferment of the case though Asem Dakey closed his defence on February 10, 2014.
He is alleged to have played a major role in the shipment of 2,310 kilogrammes of cocaine with a face value of $138.6 million into the country in April 2006.
Arrest
He was on February 2, 2012 arrested by BNI officials at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, where he had gone to seek medical treatment upon a tip-off, after he had been pursued for years by the security agencies.
He has, however, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, importation and exportation of narcotic drugs.
Facts
It is the case of the prosecution that around midnight on April 26, 2006, a vessel, the MV Benjamin, reportedly carrying about 77 parcels of cocaine, with each parcel weighing 30 kilogrammes, docked at Kpone/Tema and discharged the parcels.
The parcels were unloaded into a waiting vehicle which carried them away.
According to the prosecution, in the course of investigations, Dakey’s name featured prominently as the importer and/or owner of the drug.
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He was said to be the person who had hired the vessel at a cost of $150,000 to tow another vessel from Guinea to Ghana and, subsequently carted the alleged 77 parcels.
Ship owner jailed
The disappearance of the cocaine led to the constitution of the Justice Georgina Wood Committee and the subsequent trial of persons alleged to have played various roles in the importation.
In July 2008, the Accra Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Anin Yeboah, now a Supreme Court Judge, convicted and sentenced Joseph Kojo Dawson, the owner of the MV Benjamin and Managing Director of Dashment Company Limited; Isaac Arhin, a sailor; Phillip Bruce Arhin, a mechanic; Cui Xian Li, the vessel’s engineer; and Luo Yui Xing, a sailor, all crew members of the MV Benjamin, to 25 years’ imprisonment each with hard labour.
Bruce Arhin, however, died about three weeks after his conviction.
The convicts were found guilty of using the property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority.
A sixth accused person, Pak Bok Sil, a Korean, was acquitted and discharged by the court on October 16, 2007, which ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove a case against him.
Writers email: michael.donkor@graphic.com.gh