The fourteen security officers who were captured in a secret video recording by Anas Aremeyaw Anas - an investigative journalist - allegedly aiding a group of people to smuggle cocoa beans from Ghana to La Cote d’Ivoire have been discharged by an Accra Circuit Court. The court, presided over by Patience Mills Tetteh, discharged the accused persons and disposed off the case for want of prosecution after their lawyers requested the court to do so on grounds that DSP P.K. Frimpong, the prosecutor, failed to show up in court without any notification. On three occasions, the case was adjourned at the insistence of the prosecution, who prayed the court for more time to complete investigations in the matter. Currently, the docket is in the custody of the Attorney-General (AG) for advice and at the last sitting, DSP Frimpong said the prosecution was still awaiting a decision from the AG. The trial judge on several occasions indicated her preparedness to hear the case on a daily basis and had even ordered the prosecution to get their witnesses ready. However, when the case was called yesterday, DSP Frimpong was missing in action and there was nobody to represent him. The Judge, who looked surprised and wondered whether the prosecution was running away from the case, queried “the prosecutor is not here and there is nobody to represent him? Why?” Counsels for the accused person, Mr. Raymond Bagnabu, Mr. Senu and Mr. Alex Abban, at this juncture, moved that the court should discharge the accused persons because of the inability and lack of desire by the prosecution to start the case. Citing section 166 of the Criminal Procedure Code Act 30 of 1960, they indicated that the court has the power to dismiss the case or adjourn the case if the prosecutor does not come to court, despite knowing the date for hearing. The lawyers argued that adjourning the matter would only glorify the impunity and disrespect shown by the prosecution. They therefore prayed the court to be fair to the accused persons currently on interdiction by discharging them since they have been facing some financial challenges, travelling from the Western Region to court in Accra. The judge upheld these submissions and discharged them. The family members of the accused persons who were in the courtroom received the judges’ ruling with much joy and thanked Mrs. Mills for her kind gesture. The accused persons in the case are Gabriel Dimado, William Festus Yawson, Steven Sowah, Prosper Edze, Nii Armah Adolf, James Dzamesi, Rockson Eric Appeadu, Paul Dzamesi, all CEPS collection assistants; three police constables, Isaac Kwaku Asare Darko, Samuel Kwasi Ekpeagba, J.K Boakye; and the three immigration officers, Mate-Korle, Officer Grade 2, Kofiabley Frederick, Officer Grade 1 and Kofi Aboagye grade 2 officer. They have pleaded not guilty to a provisional charge of abetment of crime, to wit, unlawful exportation of cocoa. Narrating events that led to the arrest of the accused persons, DSP P.K Frimpong disclosed that ace investigative journalist, Anas, of the New Crusading Guide, received information that some security officials at the western frontier of the Ghana-Ivory Coast border were compromising their work by taking moneys to assist people to smuggle dried cocoa beans from Ghana to the Ivory Coast, to the detriment of the state. Based on the said information, the journalist conducted an initial investigation and captured his findings on video. The video, according to him, was referred to the police for investigations and this led to the arrest of the accused persons. Source: Daily Guide/Ghana