US Court dismisses suit against Ambassador Assassie-Gyimah

Novotex Company raided by armed robbers

Publicity campaign on crime starts

Accra (Greater Accra), 8^th February 2000

A court in the United States has dismissed a suit brought against Naval Captain Baffour Assassie-Gyimah, Ghana's Ambassador to Burkina Faso, by Mr. Bawol Cabiri, a former Trade Counsellor at the Ghana Permanent Mission in New York.

Mr. Cabiri had sued Capt Assassie-Gyimah for five million dollars for alleged torture and mistreatment during his arrest and interrogation in connection with the "Nobistor Affair" of the mid-1980s.

A jury of eight U.S citizens on February two unanimously returned a verdict of "innocent" in favour of Capt Assassie-Gyimah, a fax report from the Mission to the Ghana News Agency on Monday said.

The jury said, "on the basis of all the evidence adduced, Mr. Bawol Cabiri was never tortured in Ghana,"

It further found that "Mr. Cabiri fabricated the torture story to make money, as he had done in a previous case involving a fraudulent insurance claim in an automobile accident."

Mr. Cabiri, who was until October 1986 Ghana's Trade Counsellor in New York, was suspected of involvement in an attempted overthrow of the government by mercenaries in what became known as the "Nobistor Affair."

"His role was to organise the purchase of arms and serve as liaison for the recruitment of mercenaries," the report said.

In order not to compromise national security, the government decided not to prosecute Cabiri, but retired him from the Civil Service.

He refused to vacate the official bungalow in New York, alleging that his retirement was unlawful.

To support this, he claimed that he was tortured while in custody during preliminary investigation in Ghana and named Capt Assassie-Gyimah, then in charge of the investigations as the one who "supervised the torture".

Consequently Mr. Cabiri's lawyers served Capt Assassie-Gyimah with a writ for five million dollars, when he visited New York to give evidence for the government in connection with the former Counsellor's refusal to vacate his bungalow.

The report said preliminary objections by Capt Assassie-Gyimah to the jurisdiction of a US court were rejected.

This was misrepresented by the US-based "African Observer" and later, the "Free Press" in Ghana that the court had found Capt. Assassie-Gyimah "guilty of the torture allegations and that he should be sent to the US for trial, otherwise the government's properties there will be seized."

In a consequential decision, the presiding judge, Justice Allen Hellerstein, ruled that it was wrong in law for the previous judge, Justice Schwartz to have overruled the preliminary objections.

"In his view, the case against Capt. Assassie-Gyimah should have been thrown out long ago and apologised to him for the time and expense he had incurred in the case."

Lawyers Reid Khan and Ms Lauren Topelson were counsels for Capt. Assassie-Gyimah while Mr. Cabiri was represented by three lawyers led by Mr. Scof Kamber.

GRi

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Koforidua (Eastern Region), 8^th February 2000

About 29 armed robbers in military uniforms broke into the offices of Nkawkaw Novotex Company Limited in Koforidua and made away with cash totalling 1.8 million cedis on Friday February four.

The armed robbers allegedly beat up the four night watchmen on duty and forced their way into the offices of the cashier and the Export Manager and stole the money in their safes.

A statement signed by Chief Inspector Jonathan Kwabena Abban, Eastern Regional Police Public Relations Officer at Koforidua on Monday, said the four night watchmen -Atinga Frafra, Alhassan Grushie, Azure Frafra and Kwabena Grushie - who were treated and discharged at the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw, are helping the police in their investigations.

No arrest has so far been made. The police are investigating.

GRi

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Cape Coast (Central Region), 8^th February 2000

The Central Region branch of the Information Services Department and the Ghana Police Service have started an intensive publicity campaign to mobilise the public to assist the security agencies to combat crime.

The three-week campaign will cover 300 towns and villages within the region.

A statement issued in Cape Coast by the Regional Information Officer, Mr. J.K. Aduku, said there would be film shows alongside the campaign on the "recent crime wave in the country".

During the period, the public would be educated on how to combat crime and what assistance to give to the security agencies to help them to combat it.

The public would be given telephone numbers of the security agencies to enable them to give reliable information to the police.

GRi

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