B.A. Mensah grabs ˘500 million from CEPS
The Crusading Guide˘2.4 billion gold robbery trial…Jack Bebli still not in court
Accra woman gets 106 years jail term
The IndependentReform to join Convention Party
OAU envoy nabbed…At PANAFEST ‘99
Journalist impersonates OAU official at PANAFEST
B.A. Mensah grabs ˘500 million from CEPS
The Guide reports in a front page story that Mr B.A. Mensah, an Accra businessman and former owner of International Tobacco Ghana Limited (ITG), is to get ˘500 million from the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
The paper says an Accra High Court on July 29, this year, ordered the CEPS to pay for the personal items it seized from Mr Mensah in the course of executing a distress on ITG in 1989.
The items include two Mercedes Benz cars, pieces of furniture, fax machine, lawn mower and other family personal property. The Guide says the court, in addition, directed that CEPS pay ˘50,000 on each item per day from 1989 till the day of judgement for the loss of use of the unlawfully seized items.
Additionally, CEPS is to pay ˘60 million each for the cars. The paper recalls that Mr Mensah was one local businessman whose business and a number of property were seized and sold to foreign interest during the era of the Provisional National Defence Council.
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˘2.4 billion gold robbery trial…Jack Bebli still not in court
In a front page banner headline story, the Crusading Guide says contrary to the expectation of concerned Ghanaians, Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) Jack Bebli, the man in whose the gold robbery of February 6, this year, was planned and who, according to a police report, directed how the crime should be executed, has not yet been put before court.
The paper says it unveiled the involvement of Jack Bebli in the robbery in its April 29-May 5, 1999 edition, and since then it has published a series of reports about Jack Bebli, former head of the Police Commando Unit, in connection with the crime.
The Crusading Guide recalls that in July 26, this year, when the case involving two other suspects who were arrested at Ashaiman in connection with the robbery was called, the Circuit Tribunal chaired by Mr Charles Quist, did not hear the case but immediately adjourned it until August 2, 1999.
The paper says last Monday, August 2, the tribunal again adjourned the case until August 16.
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Accra woman gets 106 years jail term
The Accra Mail in its front page lead story says Madinat Wahab, a high profile and flamboyant Accra New Town lady who has stepped on many toes in the drug fraternity, was not lucky during her last trip to Bangkok, Thailand, as she is now doing term in one of the dreaded Thai jails for dealing in drugs.
The paper says Madinat could have been executed, but for the relaxation of the country’s laws to satisfy the international community’s pressure to reconsider the death penalty for drug pushers.
The Accra Mail says Madinat, who is in her mid-30s, has been sentenced to 106 years in jail, while her boy friend, Lawrence Okudjeto, said to be using different names and passports, is also serving a jail term in Thailand. Authorities at the National Narcotics Control Board are reported as saying drug pushers rarely use their real names so the names mentioned could be false.
Madinat could also have changed her name even though the Board is aware that she is serving jail term in Thailand.
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Reform to join Convention Party
The Independent says days after the National Reform Party was given its final certificate to operate as a political party, it has been linked to the Convention Party (CP) in periodic alliance talks.
The paper in a front page story, quotes a source close to the CP as saying that the party is in serious discussions with the National Reform Party for an arrangement that would ensure victory in the 2000 elections.
According to the source though talks are on-going, the two parties are intent on reaching agreement "so that we can also gain power, come the year 2000".
The Independent says even though the source declined to reveal details of the proposed alliance "because of the tentacles of NDC activists", it said the party had been studying the whle make-up of the reformers for some time. "It is likely that where the CP or the National Reform Party puts up a candidate for the Parliamentary elections, the other party would not field a candidate", the source is quoted as saying.
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Return to top Daily Graphic/Ghanaian Times
OAU envoy nabbed…At PANAFEST ‘99
Journalist impersonates OAU official at PANAFEST
Both the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times report on their front pages about the arrest of a Burkinabe, posed as an official of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in order to be accorded a VIP treatment at the on-going Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) at Cape Coast and Elmina in the Central Region.
The Graphic reports that a Burkinabe, who posed as an official representative of the Secretary-General of the OAU to the 4th PANAFEST was yesterday remanded in custody by a Cape Coast Circuit Court.
The paper says the 26-year-old Burkinabe, Songo Ben Chireck Omar, presented fake documents to the PANAFEST Secretariat, purporting that he was representing the OAU Secretary-General and was accorded a VIP reception.
The Times, in its account, however, says Ben Zongo Chireck Omar, 26, a journalist from Burkina Faso, was on Tuesday arrested by the police and quizzed for posing as the official representative of Mr Ahmed Salim Ahmed Secretary-General of the OAU, to the on-going festival.
The paper says Omar, who confessed the offence during police interrogation, was arraigned before a Cape Coast Court yesterday on a three-count charge of falsely pretending to be a public officer, being in possession of forged documents and altering false documents. He pleaded guilty to all the counts.
The Times says the court, presided over by Mr Justice Tom Bentil, convicted Omar on his plea, but said the court would, however, decide on the first count charge on Monday, when the fate of the Burkinabe would be determined.
The Graphic says Omar was exposed when the accredited official, Mr Charles Mirouko, a Rwandan, arrived for the festival. The paper reports that the accused who pleaded guilty to all the three counts, was accordingly convicted on his own plea and remanded in custody until August 9, to enable the police to conclude investigations.
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