Sam Jonah on the ropes of the US legal system

The untouchable Sam Kwesi Esson Jonah, the close confidante of President Kufuor and the alleged financial and corporate crook in the US court system is facing the test of his life. Unlike Ghana, the US is "a land of laws not a land of men" so no one is above the law and no one is below the law. You will remember how the former President Clinton was dragged to the courts. Additionally, the arm of the US legal system is wider than some in Ghana believe. Thus, Sam Jonah is being chased by the same lawyers who are chasing the former CEO of Enron, Ken Lay, for similar actions relating to corporate governance. AGC is not being sued. It is Sam Jonah and his former CFO and private business partner, Mark Keatley who are being sued. Any attempt to write the costs of the defense of this case against the profits of AGC must be resisted by the board, the shareholders including all Ghanaians and the employees.

The implications for this suit are far more profound than one can envisage. If Sam Jonah looses or accepts to settle outside the court (which is more likely) he is likely to be chased by other aggrieved shareholders, especially those from Ghana and elsewhere who are not party to this class action suit. These shareholders intend to piggyback on the evidence already amassed by these capable lawyers. Thus, the so-called legally acquired millions of dollars of Sam Jonah and all those fronted operations of Mr. Jonah will be under the scrutiny of the US lawyers, forensic experts and accountants. These experts will be aided by information obtained through the grapevine and the strong gossip and oral community of Ghana, not to mention reports such as General Anyidoho report on AGC, which has not been made public due to Sam Jonah's connections in Ghana.

The lawyers representing Sam Jonah filed a motion for dismissal of the case arguing that there was no case. The able lawyers representing the plaintiffs won this initial phase of the case since there is credible evidence that Sam Jonah turned AGC into a trading company in order to hide his incompetence. Notwithstanding Sam Jonah's defiance and insistence that he did nothing wrong, there is enough evidence for the case to go forward. Some of you will remember the following extract from an email sent on January 10, 2002 to me by Sam Jonah to threaten me of "unexplained acts"; "How can you seriously compare the experiences of GNPC which did not produce any of the oil that they placed hedges over, to AGC which could deliver every ounce of gold they placed hedges over. Surely, a man from the "educated elite" such as you should know the difference between hedging and speculation."

My reply to this comment is seen in my article "Sam Jonah's Mess in AGC". In it I write " To illustrate the still speculative nature of AGC?s hedge book more than two years after its first financial and liquidity crisis, one must look at the quarter ending September 30, 2001 financial report. For a company that produces approximately 1 million oz of gold a year, AGC purports to deliver 9.4 million oz of gold if the price hits $400. How can it realize this if this happens anytime in year 2003 to 2013? And where will it get $450 million to pay its margin call? This is the speculative and fraudulent nature of the hedging transactions undertook by AGC." This tells a lot about the lies of Sam Jonah and his defiance in the face of overwhelming evidence that he operated a scam which cost Ghana and many Ghanaians millions of dollars and bankrupted AGC.

Sam Jonah must be prepared to face the strong arm of American legal system. It is no respecter of persons and does not work on cronyism which Sam Jonah is best suited for in Ghana. It works on law, evidence, merit, truth and above real equal justice. It will be very difficult for the self-dealing, self-maximizing, self-centered and selfish Sam Jonah to beat the system in a lawful country. Stay tuned.

Charles K. Amoo-Asante
P. O. Box 39280
Washington, DC, 20016