SFO Wants High Court Ruling Set Aside

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has taken cover to rearm and force the decision of an Accra high court to recoil into its shells, by dragging a businessman, Kofi Asmah, to the court of appeal.

The SFO, whose appeal, dated June 6, 2002, was filed by its solicitor, is seeking a relief from the court of appeal, saying it is dissatisfied with the ruling of His Lordship, Mr. Justice Ebiasah, on April 12, May 6, and May 17, 2002 in a matter involving Kofi Asmah and his five companies.

On the grounds of the appeal, the SFO said the trial judge erred in law by not hearing from them before giving orders, and that the ruling is against the weight of evidence.

It further wants the court of appeal to set aside the ruling of the high court and the ruling entered in their favour. The high court had earlier, in a suit, styled "Number Misc.478/2002, the Acting Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office Versus Gelima Packaging Company Ltd. and Five Others," struck out, for want of prosecution, an application brought before it by the SFO.

The court ordered that the purported freezing of the assets and bank accounts of the respondents is rescinded and that Gelima Packaging Company and five others be permitted to operate their businesses.

A cost of ?1million was awarded against the Serious Fraud Office.

Further, the high court ordered that the respondents' three vehicles seized by the SFO "be and are hereby released forthwith."

Kofi Asmah had petitioned the Office of the Vice President in a letter dated July 9, 2002 to investigate what he described as harassment by SFO officials.

In the petition, Asmah, who is the managing director of Gelina Packaging Company Limited and Gelina Tropicals Limited, among others, cited freezing of his bank accounts and those of his five companies, seizure of his three vehicles and an attempt to replace management with an interim management committee (IMC) made up of some informants of the SFO.

The genesis of the problem was a series of letters that were sent to a number of institutions by one Nicholas Gadri, a surveyor.

Asmah accused the leader of the investigating team of the SFO, Mr. Roy Agbleze of doing all in his power to collapse the businesses under him.

He said he contracted loans from financial institutions to expand farms and industries, which are at sibling stages.

The businessman stated that in the course of the inquisition into his activities, described as leading to financial loss to the state, the SFO caused a freeze of his personal and companies bank accounts.

Furthermore, three operational vehicles have still been seized, even though the high court ordered for their release to him.

One of the financial institutions stepped in and rejected an IMC the SFO had proposed, he said.

The composition of the proposed IMC, according to the petition, included some elements in the companies' employment who were serving the interest of others rather than the entity that employed them.

These, Mr. Asmah stated, were enough to stifle the operations of the already constrained companies endeavouring to take off.

The businessman said activities of the investigator, which seemed to him to be witch-hunting, are an affront and a threat to the government's programme of Golden Age of Business and the creation of employment opportunities for Ghanaians.

He said it was for that reason he appealed to the vice president to cause fresh and open-minded persons to conduct the investigation and to visit the said farms and factory to ascertain the true state of his businesses.

Mr. Asmah told Chronicle that he is not against the idea of the SFO investigating his establishment, but to the extent of sourcing other informants not linked to the loans obtained is quite unfortunate.