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Lawyer of Exopa boss angry with NACOB for using force on his
client
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot
Accra, Sept 9, Ghanadot - The lawyer for Ibrahim Sima, CEO of
Exopa Modeling Agency arrested for alleged drug dealing, has
expressed strong reservations and indignation at methods used by
the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) to elicit information from
his client.
In an interview on Joy FM, Mr Kwame Akuffo revealed that
officials of NACOB on Tuesday forced Mr. Sima to write his
statement, instead of being interrogated, a modus operandi he
described as improper.
To him, even though he objected to the method, the acting
Executive Secretary of the NACOB, Mr. Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong,
insisted on taking his client's statement and upon persistent
interruption to get things done right, he was sacked from the
offices of NACOB.
“Because the language that I was using was
not music to his ears”, thus “midway through my client’s
statement he was denied the services of his counsel, a
constitutionally guaranteed right”.
“You do not elicit evidence from this incriminating cross
examination of a man who is in your custody to obtain
information to use against him… a man is not entitled to
incriminate himself,” he noted.
Mr. Akuffo explained that by interrogation, his client could
choose to answer certain questions or not, but asking him to
write his statement implies he is giving his side of the case,
which he said could be used to implicate him.
Ibrahim Sima was arrested Sunday at the Kotoka International
Airport for allegedly attempting to smuggle substances suspected
to be cocaine to Germany.
The substances were alleged to have been concealed in four
tubers of yam which were part of the luggage of the Ghanaian
fashion icon, who shot to fame about a year ago as the brain
behind the exquisite modelling show in Ghana.
But Ibrahim Sima has “denied all the allegations” leveled
against him, his lawyer maintained. He would not divulge further
information on the basis of “attorney/client privilege”.
According to Mr. Akuffo, he has been advising Mr. Sima on “his
constitutional rights in order not to incriminate himself” and
insists his client is “innocent” and would be cleared at the
end.
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