Ruby's $1.8m cocaine house seized

An Accra Financial and Economic Crimes Court has given the state the green light to confiscate the two-storey buildings situated at East Legon and Dzorwulu in Accra, belonging to Ruby Adu-Gyamfi aka Nayele Ametefe.

The court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, was convinced that the properties, which were a subject of litigation, belong to Nayele, who is currently serving an eight-year jail term in the United Kingdom.

Madam Akua Adubofour, mother of Nayele Ametefe, sued the state, claiming ownership of the two-storey buildings.

The state had filed a motion on notice for the confiscation of the purported illegal properties belonging to Nayele, who was arrested for transporting 12.5kg of cocaine to Britain.

In the ruling, the court ordered the confiscation of the East Legon property by the state.

The judge held that the owner of another purported property located at Pease in the Ashanti Region could not be determined by the state.

According to Mary Wendy Yeboah, a state attorney, the property at East Legon had been estimated at $1.8 million.

She told the court that proceeds from the sale of the said facility would be shared as follows: 50 percent to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB); 20 percent to the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO); 15 percent to the Consolidated Fund and another 15 percent to the Judicial Service.

However, under cross-examination by Abu Issah, a lawyer for EOCO, Madam Adubofour told the court that the value of the property was between $290,000 and $300,000.

She argued that the plot was bought at $30,000 while the building was constructed by CODCO Limited.

It would be recalled that EOCO and NACOB had confiscated all items in the Night Angels Enterprise, located along the Dzorwulu highway and six Fidelity Bank accounts, including one containing GH¢3.22p, belonging to the convict.

EOCO was also demanding that counsel for Madam Adubofour serves her (Adubofour’s) daughter in prison with processes she had filed, claiming ownership of the two houses.

However, Adubofour’s lawyer insisted that there was no need to serve her daughter with the processes since the houses belong to her (Adubofour).

Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, Ghana’s then Attorney General (AG), through Ms Penelope Ann Mammatha, a chief state attorney, filed a nolle prosequi to drop the charges against six other suspects who were before an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Justice Francis Obiri, for their alleged complicity in the cocaine case.

The application, dated February 20, 2015 signed by the AG, stated, “Take notice that the state intends that the proceedings against the accused persons in the above-named case shall not continue.”