CREDIBLE information reaching The Statesman is that Assistant Commissioner of Police Kofi Boakye was persuaded by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to proceed on leave.

In the words of Joe Ghartey, the A-G, “it doesn’t take a genius to see why he has to proceed on leave.”

Being Director-General of Operations, who is labouring under a cloud of suspicion over the biggest ever drugs trafficking scandal in Ghana, his position has been considered as no longer tenable.

The decision to push him out, according to our sources, is informed by incriminating evidence captured on a secret tape recording of a meeting which took place at his house last May, where the 2.3 tonnes of missing cocaine from the high seas were discussed, among other things.

Now, ACP Boakye’s fate appears hinged on the evidence to be given by his boss, the Inspector General of Police, when Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong appears before the Justice Wood committee next week.

There have also been calls in recent weeks for the IGP’s removal, as well. But Mr Acheampong has no intention of obliging his detractors. In an interview with The Statesman after a press conference yesterday, he was emphatic: “I cannot succumb to wild allegations based on speculation because someone has an agenda to carry out against me.”

Now, would the IGP’s evidence before the committee make or break the ACP? Statements by ACP Boakye captured on the tape create the impression that he has been a long-time accomplice of drug traffickers, offering them protection and immunity from arrest and prosecution. Whilst this could perhaps pass for an extreme underground operation of an ace informant, in this case the incriminating statements were coming from a well-known uniformed senior police officer.

Last week, ACP Kofi Boakye publicly stated that he no longer wanted to continue putting on the police uniform until his name was cleared.

According to the Attorney-General, it was seen as rather superfluous to interdict the police commissioner, since an interdiction is often followed by an internal probe and one independent probe was already ongoing.

It is only after investigations are complete (during interdiction or leave) that he may be charged and, since this constitutes as indictable offence, and indicted afterwards.

But, a call for ACP Boakye’s interdiction or indictment (see Editorial) is not a call to find him guilty. With the eyes of all Ghanaians and the international community on this case, and the weight of the prima facie evidence pointing to some form of police protection for alleged drug barons, anything short of a trial may be interpreted as a cover-up job.

The question already being asked: why have the others cited on the tape been arrested and charged and not the top police officer?

In his defence, Kofi Boakye told the Justice Georgina Wood Committee that whatever he said at that May meeting in his house must be read within the context of an officer on a high-stakes under-cover expedition to get information.

But, were his superiors or any of his colleagues officially aware of this operation?

This is where the IGP’s evidence before the committee may be crucial. If the IGP comes to the committee next week to say ACP Boakye’s actions that day in May did not have the prior approval of the service, this is likely to remove any semblance of official cover available to the Director General of Operations. In a related development, yesterday, there were conflicting reports that the police were actively looking to pick up the fifth person at that meeting, Kumasi-based Alhaji Moro.

The other four suspects, Kwabena “Tagor” Amaning, Abass Issah, Kwadwo Ababio and Kwabena Acheampong, were dramatically arrested Thursday after they appeared before the Wood Committee, set up to probe the missing 77 parcels of cocaine on board a vessel, MV Benjamin. A sixth, Yaw Bila, whose name was mentioned on the tape was also arrested at the premises of the Ministry of Interior Thursday, when he attended the Wood Committee merely to witness proceedings. All five arrested suspects have been charged and remanded in custody to re-appear on August 18.

Supreme Court justice Georgina Wood was forced to suspend sitting until Monday after the four arrested witnesses refused to cooperate with the Committee Thursday. Their lawyers argued that their clients had volunteered to cooperate with the Committee in its bid to probe the whereabouts of the $230 million worth of hard drugs, but that their arrest, along that of a fifth person, Yaw Bila, at the premises and their subsequent remand in custody had made it rather difficult for their clients to continue to voluntarily cooperate. The committee had planned to transcribe the recorded conversation which took place on the domestic compound of ACP Boakye at GBC.

Also, Thursday, the Interior Minister again stepped in to defend the Police Service when questioned about the arrest of the five suspects. Albert Kan Dapaah said: “Yesterday, we were ordered by the Attorney General’s Department. They were not arrested by the Police. The Police was guiding the Attorney General to arrest them. I believe it will be appropriate to put those questions that you put to the Attorney General Himself. He knows why he did what he did at what point in time.”

A source at the A-G’s Department told The Statesman that the arrest was deemed necessary to prevent the suspects from escaping justice as more and more revelations are made in the course of the probe.

Another tape, which insiders say is even “more explosive” than the rest, may be outdoored next week.

The A-G’s action to effectively order their arrest appears covered under Section 28(1) of PNDC Law 236 (the Narcotic Drug Law, 1990). This gives the A-G special powers to make an order authorising the police “to make an investigation in the matter in a manner or mode as may be specified in the order.” A cautioned statement, done after an arrest, is one basic form of an investigation into a criminal matter.

The IGP has denied rumours of his intended resignation due to the frequent way his name keeps popping up, even though one of the suspects, Alhaji Abass of Tema, has come out to say in the Enquirer that the IGP is very innocent on the case of the missing cocaine. Speaking to The Statesman’s Nana Obeng-Danquah after a Press briefing Thursday in Accra, Mr Acheampong said “It is not an offence to have a friend from the general public but what is important is how to handle whatever information that is given out at any point in time.”

He went on to say: “I cannot succumb to wild allegations based on speculation because someone has an agenda to carry out against me. It is unfortunate that the media oftentimes are engaged to do this dirty job.”

The IGP further hinted to The Statesman that various methods are employed to make informants feel at ease in order for them to give out vital information to assist the police in their investigations.

Asked why some of the top brass of the service undergoing investigation have not been interdicted, Mr Acheampong explained that such an action is taken where the officer being investigated is likely to disrupt the course of investigation pointing out that the committee was not set-up by the police headquarters.

The IGP, in fairness to the committee’s work, declined to respond to issues relating to accused officers but expressed concern about the fact that drug barons may be attempting to divide the rank and file of the police service to shift the focus on the police itself so that the drug traffickers could have the freedom to continue with their harmful business.

In assuring the public, however, the police boss maintained that the police remain resolute, loyal, and focused more than ever in spite of the difficult conditions his men face and work under. He appealed to the media to be circumspect in their reportage of what the service is currently going through saying “many of the policemen are dedicated to their duty.”

In another development, the Minister of Interior, Albert Kan-Dapaah has charged the police to redouble its effort to combat the indiscipline within its fold since this is imperative to the restoration of the battered image of the service as perceived by the general public.

The Interior Minister said this when he opened the annual national police command conference in Accra Thursday. The minister urged the police to work in unity, apply the principles honest, show respect and be loyal to the state and government citing the cordial relationship that has existed between him and his deputy.