AG must explain why 'Nayele gang' case was dropped – Short

Justice Francis Emile Short has said the Attorney General’s Department must necessarily explain to Ghanaians the reasons behind the filing of a nolle prosequi application to discontinue the prosecution of the six arrested accomplices in the ‘Nayele cocaine saga’.

An Accra Circuit Court on February 24, 2015 freed all the six who were being tried for aiding Nayele Ametefeh to traffic 12 kilogrammes of cocaine to the United Kingdom last year.

The judge, according to Starr News’ Wilberforce Asare, discharged the six accomplices for want of prosecution.

They include principal suspect Alhaji Dawood Mohammed, a businessman; two ladies Nana Akua Amponsah and Sadalia Nuhu; Foreign Ministry officer, Abiel Ashitey Armah; Theophilus Kissi a foreign service officer, and Ahmed Abubakr, a protocol officer at the VIP lounge.

The Attorney General’s Office has not explained the reason behind its decision to discontinue the prosecution.

Justice Short, who served as Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) told Morning Starr’s Kafui Dey on Wednesday that the opacity surrounding the discontinuation of such a high profile case does not help the image of the criminal justice system.

“I think in such circumstances, it is incumbent upon the Attorney General’s office to let the public know why they have decided not to proceed with the case because it is not good for the image of the criminal justice system for an institution like the Attorney General’s Office to arrest people, put them on trial, charge them–and you know when you are arrested and all the media sensation that goes with it, your reputation is tarnished–and if at the end of the day the Attorney General decides they are not going to proceed with the case, damage has been done to your reputation,” he said.

Nayele Ametefeh was sentenced on her own plea by the Isleworth Crown Court in London and she is currently serving an eight-year jail term in the UK.