New witness for Ruby Nayele's 'cocaine houses'

The state has withdrawn a subpoena directed at the Head of the Town and Country Planning Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to testify in the case in which it is seeking to confiscate assets purportedly belonging to Ruby Adu-Gyamfi aka Nayele Ametefe.

According to the prosecution, there was a problem with the earlier order requesting the witness – Kwadwo Yeboah – to appear before the court.

Although the case was heard in chambers yesterday, sources say the court granted the application by the state to withdraw the subpoena.

It said another officer from the assembly whose name had not been made public, would be subpoenaed.

The Accra Financial and Economic Crimes Court presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, adjourned the hearing until April 25, 2016.

Witnesses

At the previous sitting, lawyers of the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO) told the court that the prosecution intended to subpoena its next witness to testify in the case.

Mr Kwadwo Yeboah would have been the second witness in the case in which Madam Adubofour, mother of Nayele Ametefe, is claiming ownership of the two storey buildings situated at East Legon and Dzorwulu in Accra, confiscated by the state.

A Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) investigator (name withheld) who was the first witness of the state at the last hearing, told the court that the properties at East Legon and Dzorwulu are not the only properties belonging to Nayele Ametefe (Ruby Cocaine).

He said under cross-examination by Peter Dadzie, lawyer for Madam Adubofour, NACOB had also pasted seizure notices and filed for confiscation of another property located at Pease in the Ashanti Region.

The NACOB investigator said the recommendation for the confiscation of the said property was based on “intelligence in relation to the stated property,” adding that verification from state institutions like the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and the Lands Commission affirmed his suspicion.

Although the witness said he had not obtained any evidence to buttress his claim, the investigator insisted that he (witness) acted within the confines of the law.

In an answer to a question, the NACOB investigator argued that anything the respondent (Nayele) was associated with was under suspicion.

But Mr Peter Dadzie disagreed, indicating that the suspicion was wrong and was not informed by any evidence.

In the view of the lawyer, the owner of the building at Dzorwulu which houses the Night Angels stores of Nayele, had filed for notice of claim and had produced land titles in the court, an assertion the witness said he was not aware of.

For this reason, the lawyer stated, “I suggest to you that you did a very bad job because a simple investigation or search at the Lands Commission could have shown that the building housing Night Angel did not belong to the respondent.”

The witness said the seizure was for the stores and not the whole property.

Evidence

The NACOB investigator has over the weeks been telling the court among other things that checks at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) did not name Adubofour as the owner of the two storey buildings situated at East Legon and Dzorwulu.

Led in evidence by Wendy Yeboah, lawyer at NACOB, the witness stated that after the arrest and subsequent conviction of Nayele in London, UK, he was tasked to identify the assets of the convict.

He said he identified one property at East Legon and the other at Dzorwulu – which is a shop – adding that after that “I requested for the property rate from AMA.”

The NACOB undercover investigator indicated that he further requested from the AMA how names were placed on property rates and what goes into that.

The witness stated that AMA responded to the said request and got to know Adubofour after NACOB had pasted seizure notices on the stated properties.

“Per the checks done at the AMA in relation to the property rate, Adubofour’s name is not listed as the owner of the property,” he disclosed.

Background

The state has filed a motion on notice for the confiscation of the purported illegal properties belonging to Nayele, who is currently serving a jail term in Britain for transporting 12.5kg of cocaine to that country.