…He Drags ‘New Crusading GUIDE’ To NMC For Allegedly Maligning Him ‘As A Liar And Imputing Dishonesty And Fraud On Him’ Via ‘Ogbojo House’ Stories!

Mr. Paul Victor Obeng, former Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs ( 1993 – 1997) and Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) under the Mills Administration, has instructed his Solicitors to file a complaint at the National Media Commission ( NMC) against The New Crusading GUIDE over the latter’s recent publications in respect of Mr. Obeng’s purported acquisition of a house situate at Ogbojo, Accra.

A copy of the complaint attached to a covering letter from the National Media Commission (NMC) which was signed by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr. Alex Bannerman, was delivered to the offices of The New Crusading GUIDE on Thursday March 24, 2011.

“We forward to you a complaint received from OSEAWUO Chambers & Co. on behalf of Mr. Paul Victor Obeng in reference to publications in your newspaper editions of November 8 & 22, 2010 and December 13, 2010. Kindly let your response to this compliant reach us to enable the Complaints Settlement Committee of the Commission make a determination of the matter”, articulated Mr. Bannerman in the covering letter dated March 21, 2011.

The thrust of the Complaint dated March 14, 2011, according to Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors, was (is) that The New Crusading GUIDE , in the said publications had “ sought to malign our client as a liar and impute dishonesty and fraud on our client in respect of the acquisition of a house situate at Ogbojo, Accra, the subject matter of the publications”.

Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors recalled that sometime in 1993, after full scale investigations arising out of media allegations, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), declared the said house in contention as the bona fide property of Renato Noce (now deceased). They further noted that Renato Noce subsequently expressed to “our client his candid desire to dispose of the said house including other properties of his. After negotiations, the said Rento Noce sold all his interest in the said house to Paros Limited acting per director, Nana Kweku Agyapong and same is evidenced by a deed of assignment dated 15th of March, 2006 duly stamped and registered at the Lands Commission”.

“The above newspaper (The New Crusading GUIDE) has refused to accept this fact and obviously in cahoots with one Alberto Noretti, a son of the said deceased, have caused series of publications against our client with the avowed intention being to embarrass him”, charged Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors.

They cited the publication which appeared in the Monday 8th November 2010, Vol 2 No. 171 issue of the newspaper headed “ P.V. BUYS BACK OGBOJO HOUSE…BUT SCETIONS OF DECEASEDED OWNER’S FAMILY A RAT!” to reinforce the above charge.

Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors further referred to The New Crusading GUIDE’S publications of Monday 22nd November, 2010 Vol. 2 No. 179, headed: “ PV’S OGBOJO HOUSE DEAL…..NO PROOF OF PAYEMENT YET” and Monday 13th December, 2010, Vol. 2. No. 199, headed: “P.V. OBENG HAS NO PROOF OF PAYMENT …FOR ALLEGED PURCHASE OF OGBOJO HOUSE PROBED BY CHRAJ 15 YEARS AGO AND DEED OF ASSIGNMENT STILL BEING PROCESSED AT LANDS COMMISSION”, and contended that the two publications under reference were “conscious efforts to tarnish the hard won reputation of our client”.

They further contended that The New Crusading GUIDE had succeeded in pitching “the said Alberto Noretti against our client in respect of title to the said house and pursue an unwarranted agenda on behalf of the said Alberto Noretti in circumstances that could best be described as witch-hunting when the said editor (Gordon Asare-Bediako, Editor for Monday Edition of The New Crusading GUIDE) should or ought to have known that the only way in which Alberto Noretti could vindicate any rights of his in respect of the said house, if he was seriously minded to do so, was to have gone to court to seek a declaration of title to the said house but not through newspaper publications”

They continued “the pernicious intentions of both the said editor and Alberto are made manifest when one considers the fact that it came to their knowledge that the deed of assignment was executed between the said deceased and Paros Limited and did not involve our client personally but yet they carried out their campaign as if our client was personally involved with the execution of the deed of assignment”.

“Our client hereby takes a strong exception to these publications and the conduct of the said editor who to all intents and purposes was out to depict our client as a dishonest and fraudulent man and subject him to public ridicule and opprobrium amongst right thinking members of this country and elsewhere. We hereby seek redress from you by causing the said newspaper to apologize and retract the said publications with all prominence,” concluded Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors.

Meanwhile, the Editor-In-Chief of The New Crusading GUIDE, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako last Thursday, March 24, 2011, called the Deputy Executive Secretary of the NMC, Mr. Alex Bannerman to acknowledge receipt of the complaint, and to express the readiness of the newspaper to contest the complaint before the Complaints Settlement Committee of the Commission.

Baako assured the NMC Deputy Executive Secretary that the newspaper’s formal response to the complaint will reach the Commission today, March 28, 2011 “to enable the Complaints Settlement Committee of the Commission make a determination of the matter” as indicated in the Commission’s covering letter referred to earlier.

The outcome of the proceedings of the Complaints Settlement Committee (CSC) of the NMC will be published for the perusal of the reading public if and when a determination of the matter is made.

Please stay tuned…