Drug baron loses 2.9 billion cedis buildings

In a screaming front-page headline story, the Ghanaian Times reports that the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal has ordered the confiscation to the state of two buildings, one at the Airport residential area in Accra and the other on the Accra-Tema Motorway, both valued at 2.9 billion cedis.

The paper says the houses belong to Raymond Amankwaah, a Ghanaian convicted in 1996 in France for narcotic drug trafficking and money laundering. The Times says Amankwaah, also called 'Chanda Keita', absconded from France during his trial but was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in absentia by a Paris court. According to the paper, the confiscation followed an application to that effect and which was endorsed by the Attorney-General's Office.

The Times says the tribunal, chaired by Mr Justice Isaac Douse, said that after hearing the application, it was satisfied that the two buildings were illegally acquired by Amankwaah.