As the controversy surrounding the missing 76 parcels of cocaine from the MV Benjamin deepens, one of the suspects, Alhaji Issah Abass, aside denying all charges preferred against him, stated at an Accra Fast Track High Court on Thursday, that because he has faithfully honoured his tax obligations as a patriotic citizen over the years, there should be no grounds for anyone to suspect him of involvement in a cocaine deal. According to him through one of his two companies he was awarded a contract to supply vehicle tyres to the Ghana Police Service at the tune of ¢ 1.6 billion which he honoured. He told the court that, anytime the Police Service received the items, they paid for them in full. The Service, he stressed, however still owed him some money, though he refused to disclose the amount of money owed him to the court. He added that anytime a payment was made to him, he also ensured that he fulfilled his tax obligations to the nation. Denying all the charges preferred against him, Issah Abass revealed that he has two companies, namely Gazimplex Ghana Limited and Issah Ventures, which deal in Russian cars and running of vessels at the ports respectively. He said the companies had been registered in Ghana and that he had been supplying motor and vehicle tyres to the Ghana Police Service and other companies. Issah Abass said he had known Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kofi Boakye, for sometime now, and had gone to him to complain about some harassment, when Mr. Boakye informed him that there were some rumours that he and his boys had stolen cocaine from the MV Benjamin vessel. He further told the court that Ben Ndego, a Narcotics Control Board official, who was then investigating the case, contacted him when the vessel was arrested because he had been running vessels at the ports for several years now. He told the court that Ben told him that through their investigations they had received information that a team of policemen had stolen the cocaine from the vessel and that he (Ben) suspected Mr. Boakye. Subsequently, he said he met Mr. Boakye who later ordered his bodyguard to proceed to search Kwabena Amaning's house and bring him down for interrogation, but unfortunately the bodyguard came with the report that Amaning was not at home. Issah Abass said he later told Kwabena Amaning to meet Mr. Boakye because he (Abass) had been given a task by Ben to record the meeting at the residence of Mr. Boakye. He submitted that Ben sent the recorder to him through a driver from the Narcotics Control Board. In the process, he confirmed that he later went to the meeting with Mr. Boakye and others where he recorded proceedings of the meeting. Kwabena Amaning had earlier told court that Alhaji Issah Abbas, with whom he is standing trial for narcotic offences, was the one who recorded the controversial Kofi Boakye Tape. He said Abbas told him that he was asked by the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) to record proceedings at the meeting because they believed, Mr. Boakye had a questionable character, which they wanted to be confirmed to them. Tagor, 34 and Alhaji Abass, 53, alleged self-confessed drug barons, are jointly charged for conspiracy and are being tried for drug-related offences. They have pleaded not guilty and the court has remanded them in prison custody. Tagor told the court presided over by Mr. Justice Jones Dotse, an Appeals Court judge that Abass coached him about what to say at the meeting. He mentioned Abass, Moro and one Ahoto, a bodyguard of ACP Kofi Boakye, as among those who were present at the meeting. Tagor denied that he and Abass promised to trace the 76 parcels of cocaine that went missing on board the MV Benjamin. Source: The Ghanaian Observer