Naval Captain (rtd) Baffour Asaase- Gyimah, a former National Security Co-ordinator, yesterday appealed to the National Reconciliation Commission to hear all matters concerning the BNI in camera.
He said the BNI is the only protective institution that the country has at the moment and it will be in the national interest if its reputation or integrity is not undermined.
Capt Asaase-Gyimah who appeared before the commission to refute allegations of torture and human rights violations made against him by some witnesses said the BNI is run by very intelligent and well-trained personnel who know what they are about.
?When the dust has settled down the truth of BNI will come out?, he added.
He said many people have erroneous impressions about the BNI and have discredited it as if it is a bad institution. Asaase-Gyimah said this in response to a question posed by one of the commissioners, Most Rev. Charles G. Palmer-Buckle, to let the public know what is actually behind the curtains at the BNI.
He said most of the witnesses who appeared before the commission said that they were tortured there and the commission would like to know the facts.
Private Twumhene told the commission on February 4, 2003, that Capt Asaase-Gyimah was present when he was beaten by Flt Lt Kojo Lee and Fordjour.
Asaase-Gyimah, who is now a barrister at law, told the commission that he did not remember Twumhene but he might have met him in the course of his duty.
He said as a Security Co-ordinator at the time, he had knowledge in February 1983 of an attempt to overthrow the PNDC Government and soldiers were put on the alert.
He said two weeks later he had a call from the Gondar Barracks that the coup plotters had been arrested but the way they were being beaten he was asked to intervene on their behalf.
He said he saw about 12 to 15 people including two civilians being beaten by soldiers and he asked them to release them to him, which they did.
He said he interviewed them himself and they told him how they were going to surprise the government.
Capt Asaase-Gyimah said the plotters were led by Major Ackason. He denied that Kojo Lee and Fordjour beat up Twumhene because officers were not allowed to beat other ranks.
He said he saved the life of Private Stanley Okyere who was among the coup plotters. He said private Okyere who was among the coup plotters rather started beating them.
Capt Asaase-Gyimah explained that when the plotters said Okyere was among the coup makers, he was nowhere to be found. He was arrested at the barracks where he had gone to hide and he was severely beaten but for his timely intervention he would have been killed by his colleagues.
He said the suspects were sent to the BNI for a proper investigation and the suspects were charged for subversion but as they were waiting for the trial there was an uprising and most of them fled and it became difficult for the government to prosecute them.
He said when he was made the National Security Co-ordinator there were about 25 to 30 attempted coups but they were able to quell the attempts because he made a promise on a national radio on January 1, 1982 that the 1981 coup was going to be the end of all coups in Ghana and since then nothing has happened.
According to him, it was very difficult to control junior security personnel involved in revolutions and said the country should pray that it never happens again.
Naval Captain Asaase-Gyimah denied ever torturing anybody and said he has a way of extracting information from people without touching them.
He said there are no records at the Gondar Barracks but there are records at the BNI.
He served in the armed forces for 25 years and was honourably retired with all his benefits in 2002.
Another witness, Mr Sammy Nassar, a 65-year old Ghanaian of Lebanese descent and businessman, told the commission that he was arrested and detained for four years at the BNI, James Fort and Nsawam prisons for attempted subversion with Mr Kwame Pianin, He said, at the time, he had four businesses in the country and all his assets, including his vehicles and other properties were siezed.
According to him, he was a sound businessman who established a company to manufacture cables and somewhere in 1981/ 82 he decided to expand the cable business and the Bank for Credit and Commerce agreed to assist him.
He said he was asked to produce feasibility studies of the company so he went to the Bank of Ghana and there he met Dr Jackson who introduced Kwame Pianin. Mr Nassar said he took mr Pianin to the factory premises to enable him draw up the feasibility studies.
He said he travelled to Lebanon on November 27, 1982 and while there he was advised not to return to the country because his name had been mentioned among some others who had planned to overthrow the government.
Mr Nassar said he stayed in Lebanon for six years and on his return to the country in 1988, he was accompanied by Mr E. S. Adu to the castle Annex to see Captain Asaase-Gyimah who asked them to come back later to see him.
He said after a month Mr Adu told him that Capt Asaase-Gyimah wanted to see him. Mr Nassar said at the Castle Annex he told him that certain allegations had been made against him and he directed that he should be sent to the BNI for interrogation.
He said he was interrogated by Mr Peter Nanfuri and Capt Asaase-Gyimah at the BNI Annex. According to him he was asked why he ran away from the country and he explained that he was on a business trip and that he had documents to prove his innocence.
He said he was sent to the James Fort Prisons and then to Nsawam where he stayed for four years. He said he wrote several petitions to the President but the reply he had was from Capt Asaase- Gyimah?s office. Mr Nassar said he wrote other petitions to the government for the release of his assests.
Captain Asaase-Gyimah, who cross examined Mr Nassar, asked him whether or not he knew RSM Abu Baba who had collected two sacks of money from his house for the coup but he denied the claim.
