Cocaine probe exposes conspiracy

Page 3: May 20, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Kojo Armah Committee which investigated the theft of cocaine from the Exhibits Room at the CID Headquarters has revealed that there had been a conspiracy to incriminate some persons with the theft.
According to the committee’s report, Isaac Tenkorang, one of the informants, had disclosed before the committee that there had been a grand strategy to implicate Mr Daniel Kwame Frimpong, a friend of DSP Patrick Akagbo’s, after Chief Superintendent Alphonse Adu-Amankwah had promised the informants $50,000, which later turned out to be GH¢5,000.
“The details, as given, therefore, by Tenkorang in his statement clearly raise the possibility of a ‘brain’ behind that statement and hence a possible ‘conspiracy theory’,” it said.
“Along this line, even Tenkorang’s confession could be a ‘conspiracy’ to go for a lesser offence of ‘deceit of public officer’ rather than one of dealing in narcotics,” the report added.
To buttress its suspicions of the conspiracy theory, the report, which was presented to the Minister of the Interior on April 25, 2008, found it strange that Tenkorang and Nana Dokua, who were not personnel of the CID Headquarters, got to know a number of issues going at the place.
The report said Tenkorang and Nana Dokua had been aware that DSP Akagbo was the officer keeping the keys to the Exhibits Store Room, instead of the Organised Crime Unit; that there was a strained relationship between DSP Akagbo and Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah and that the former CID boss, Mr Asante-Apeatu, had handed the East Legon case to Mr Akagbo even after Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah had returned to Ghana from overseas.
It also established that Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah lied about his relationship with Nana Dokua, the woman who allegedly introduced the informants to him.
It said although Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah had hedged his relationship with Nana Dokua to the committee and only mentioned her after February 27, 2008, it was established that they had known each other since October 2007 and “from itemised bills available to the panel, her relationship with Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah went deeper than she tried to make us believe”.
Throwing more light on the issues, the report said Tenkorang, in his statement on February 27, 2008, had confirmed the involvement of Frimpong with DSP Akagbo in the cocaine deal, as stated in his statement of February 12, 2008, but added that he told Nana Dokua about the deal.
According to the report, Tenkorang had told the committee that a week after the news broke out about the missing cocaine, Nana Dokua took him to the CID Headquarters where he met Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah and reported the involvement of the three friends to him.
It said Tenkorang, however, refused to honour an invitation to appear before the panel on February 28, 2008 and went underground with his friend, Osman Anani.
It said he re-appeared before the committee on March 25, 2008 after his arrest four days earlier, and at the committee he made a thought-provoking confession.
“He said the whole story he had told in his earlier statements and testimonies was false and was the result of a grand strategy to implicate Daniel Kwame Frimpong, a friend of DSP/Mr Akagbo’s, in the cocaine theft,” it noted.
The report said Tenkorang told the panel that Nana Dokua had informed him that Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah had agreed that “Isaac and Osman should bear testimonies against Frimpong so that they could be paid some money. Nana Dokua had allegedly agreed to go along with the plan because Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah had promised to pay an amount of $50,000 to them which later turned out to be GH¢5,000”.
“Working in accordance with this strategy, he and Osman made statements to Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah implicating Frimpong and DSP Akagbo,” it added.
The report said Tenkorang apologised to Frimpong on April 2, 2008, in the presence of Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah, for the suffering and pain his falsehood had caused him.
It said Nana Dokua confirmed negotiating for a fee of $50,000, not GH¢5,000, for the information, out of which she was paid GH¢800.
“Nana Dokua’s statement and her own comportment at the hearing depicted a person who was deeply involved in the deal but trying hard to conceal facts. From itemised telephone bills available to the panel, her relationship with Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah went deeper than she tried to make us believe,” it noted.
According to the report, “if she had been relaying information to Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah since November or December 2007, it is then surprising that it was only on February 11 or 12, 2008 that Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah said he saw the two informants, Tenkorang and Osman, for the first time and hurriedly paid them an amount of GH¢2,500 even before they appeared before the Director-General of the CID, the minister and the panel, and another GH¢2,500 the morning they were due to appear before the panel. The timing of the payment could not have been mere coincidence”.
It also wondered why Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah had not mentioned Nana Dokua in the first place but waited until after February 27, 2008 when Isaac had mentioned her in his third statement to the panel.
It noted that Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah had not been diligent in the investigations and did not properly supervise the investigations.
“His management of the ‘informants’ was unprofessional. He neither tested their integrity nor critically analysed the information they provided before parting with money,” it observed.
The report also marvelled as to why, in introducing the informants to the CID boss and the panel, Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah “deliberately left out Nana Dokua who, indeed, should have been the key informant”.
It said Chief Supt Adu-Amankwah also failed to take a statement from Frimpong, who was arrested as the prime link man to DSP Akagbo, although Frimpong had been detailed for about 38 days and heavily escorted anytime he appeared before the panel.