Grace Coleman Suspends Statement On Indictment

Former deputy Finance Minister, Grace Coleman has suspended a statement she intended to make in Parliament on Friday on the advise of her lawyer. Mrs Coleman has been indicted by a district court in the United States on charges of conspiracy to engage in illegal slavery. She is to appear before a US district court in Greenbelt next Tuesday with her daughter, Barbara Coleman Blackwell and son-in-law Kenneth Blackwell.

Mrs Coleman and her daughter can be jailed 20 years each if convicted, and fined 250,000 dollars. Though the former deputy Minister could not address Parliament on Friday, she earlier confirmed the story and said the Foreign Ministry is trying to persuade her to go and face trial in the US following an extradition request by the court.

Journalists who were anxiously waiting for her press conference were disappointed. But her lawyer, Captain Effah Dartey said it was necessary to suspend the press conference because the entire case will have to be reviewed, considering its international dimension. He explained that they are Mrs Coleman’s new lawyers and will therefore have to study the case before allowing her to comment on it.