Prosecuting Koda would be a funny joke – Atta Akyea

Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea has discounted the slightest idea of the state proceeding to court to file criminal charges against NPP’s head of security.

Captain (retd) Edmund Kojo Koda was released on Monday after being detained by the Bureau of National Investigations for over 48 hours in connection with three South African ex police officers arrested in Ghana last week.

But when the three were put before court on Thursday, the BNI dropped charges against Captain Koda.

Meanwhile, the three accused of engaging in activities that could disturb the security of the state have since been deported.

A Ministry of Interior statement issued on Monday described Koda as somebody who broke jail in the early 80s after being convicted of corruption.

His lawyers have rejected the corruption claim but admitted that he was imprisoned for embezzlement. They however said he was later acquitted and discharged. They explained that he was forced to break jail due to his forced detention.

But according to the Ministry of Interior, Capt. Koda’s re-arrest on Saturday “comes on the heels of a previous security alert in 2014, after his name popped up in a National Security investigation of the activities of some Serbian nationals who were brought into the country to train selected people drawn from across the country in the art of civil insurrection. A training dubbed 'Assaulting the pillars of power'.”

It is still sketchy if the state will press charges against the former army officer, but, Mr. Atta Akyea who is a member of the NPP legal team told TV3 New Day Wednesday “it will be a funny joke” for the state to prosecute Koda.

He wondered how the way out would be for the state once key persons he is accused of conspiring with have been left the hook and sent away from the country.

He insisted that any attempts by the state to press charges against Koda in court will “fizzle out” because they would lack the evidence to prosecute him.

It is this same lack of evidence that caused the BNI to resort to feeding the ruling party with propaganda about three deportees, he asserted.

UNINFORMED ABOUT DEPORTATION

Samuel Atta Akyea appeared incensed that the accused lawyers were not even informed before their deportation.

He also said the state did not allow him and his colleague lawyers access to the three South Africans before they were deported since they left court on Thursday.

“We wanted to link up…as to whether we can even visit them during the Easter festivity; whether we can even give them something to eat, we failed. We couldn’t get them…this is how come that we were very, very anxious to know their wellbeing, where they were being kept, but eventually they were deported,” he narrated.

Mr. Akyea said the decision by the BNI to hold on to his clients even after the court had granted them bail has dented the image of Ghana.

He described the BNI’s action and their subsequent repatriation as anti-climax that “rubbished” the powers of the judiciary.