Mrs Zuleika Asamoah-Boateng, wife of ex-Information Minister Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has been granted bail by an Accra Circuit Court for an alleged assault and obstruction of justice levelled against her by the state.

In addition to the GH¢50,000 bail with two sureties, the court, presided over by Mrs Adwoa Coleman, ordered her to surrender her passport to the court.

Mrs Asamoah-Boateng has denied all three charges - intentionally assaulting a public officer, using insulting language on Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) officers and forcibly taking a passport belonging to her husband from a BNI officer.

She would return to the court on July 29.

Zuleika Asamoah-Boateng on June 17, 2009 reportedly struggled with officers of the Bureau of National Investigations who went to the Kotoka International Airport to stop her husband from travelling outside the country as a result of ongoing investigations national security officers ssaid he would be needed to assist.

Joy FM’s Sammy Darko, who covered the proceedings at the Cocoa Affairs Courts in Accra, Thursday, said Mrs Zuleika Asamoah-Boateng appeared “sober” in the courtroom.

Some leading members of the opposition New Patriotic Party, including her husband and former Majority Leader, Felix Owusu-Adjapong, her relatives and sympathizers thronged the court premises to offer moral support.

Aside offering their solidarity, Mr Owusu-Adjapong explained that some of them were there to “take information at first hand”.

Her lawyer told the court his client did not struggle with the BNI officers, but she only restrained attempts by unknown BNI officials, who claimed to have “orders from above” but would not reveal their identity, to infringe on her husband’s rights.



Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com