My life is in danger – Ivorian Minister

The former Ivorian Minister, whose extradition case is ongoing at a court in Accra, has indicated that he would be killed by the Ivorian authorities if he is extradited from Ghana.

Justine Kone Katinan, the former Budget Minister, who was giving evidence at the Osu Magistrate Court presided over by Aboagye Tandoh on Wednesday, said that he was not against facing trial in Cote d’Ivoire on charges of robbery but feared for his life.

Katinan earlier told the court that he escaped to seek asylum in Ghana in a fishing boat during the crisis in his country.

He said he would either be tortured till he became disabled or killed by those who seek his head.

He said prior to the arrest of former President Laurent Gbagbo, he received a call from a rebel who he (Katinan) was acquainted while in his country.

According to him, the rebel said he (Katinan) and Desire Tagro, the former Chief of Staff had been targeted to be killed so he should flee for his life.

According to him, he initially took that information with a pinch of salt until Gbagbo was arrested and Desire, also a former Minister for Interior was shot and killed the same day.

Mr. Katinan is facing 20 counts of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.

The prosecution, led by Chief State Attorney, Mathew Amponsah, alleged that Katinan conspired with some allies of Laurent Gbagbo, former Ivorian President, to loot public and government funds to a tune of 38 billion CFA equivalent to $1billion dollars.

The ex-minister and the allies, mostly military men, reportedly took advantage of the post-election serious violence in Cote d’Ivoire and robbed eight financial institutions to assist Laurent Gbagbo, who disputed the election results, to survive.

The prosecution is praying the court to extradite him to face trial in his country.

However, Katinan denied conspiring with other people to rob banks, alleging that the charges are politically-motivated.

According to Katinan, one needed two thousand large suitcases to pack the said amount.

“Nobody is even strong enough to carry even one of the bags containing about 200million CFA not to talk of 2,000 bags.

“Also, it is impossible to carry such an amount to Ghana because then one would need 15 forty footer containers to bring the money”.

He wondered how he could do that without being arrested.

Mr. Katinan stated that the Ivorian government preferred the charges against him because he defended Gbagbo.

He said even though the Ivorian authorities initially accused him of killing two people he had never met in his life, they abandoned them because they had no evidence to prosecute the matter.

The prosecution, in its case, stated that the ex-minister directed and actively took part in the robberies and that according to eyewitness reports, Mr. Katinan was personally present during the attacks and used his position to force and persuade managers to co-operate with the armed robbers.