Counsel said gov’t was right in de-confiscating company

Mr Emmanuel Arthur, Counsel for Reverend Daniel Opoku Adabo, the Executor of the will of the late Mr Ohene Koffie, Proprietor of Subin Timbers Company Limited, on Thursday said the government was right in de-confiscating the Company.

He said the report of the fact finding committee set-up by the government showed that there was no merger of Subin Timbers and WBLC or TBLC, hence attempts by certain individuals to claim that they bought the Company from the Divestiture Implementation Committee as part of WBLC was dismissed by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

Mr Arthur said this in his testimony at the Judgment Debt Commission’s sitting in Accra in the matter of an award to Ohene Koffie and issues relating to the de-confiscating of the Subin Timbers.

He tendered in documents to support his claims which were records presented in the trial at the High Court.

Mr Justice Yaw Apau, Sole Commissioner of the Judgement Debt Commission, described the single compilation of documents as scary.

It will be recalled that Sole Commissioner on Monday ordered Rev Adabo, a Kumasi based pastor, to reappear before the Commission with his counsel on August 21 due to his inability to articulate himself before the Commission.

“Go and bring your lawyer here, it appears you don’t know what you are doing here,” Mr Justice Apau had said.

Mr Adabo had petitioned the Commission to be given the opportunity to clear the air following media reports from the Commission’s sitting about the de-confiscation of Subin Timber Company, which according to him was jointly owned by his late adopted father, Mr Ohene Koffie and Ivofiorini, an Italian.

Rev Adabo gave an account of the history of Subin Timbers, including its confiscation by the state in 1979, the struggle they went through at the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Attorney General’s Department and the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to get the Company de-confiscated, coupled with trials at the High Court and the Court of Appeal which all went in their favour.

He also presented to the Commission a copy of a letter dated December 15, 2008 from the Office of the President stating the de-confiscation of the Subin Timbers segment of WBLC Limited based on recommendations of the NRC.

According to him, the late Ohene Koffie started his business as a timber merchant in the early 1970s, known as Koffie Timber Agency, but later wanted to create a new timber firm and was advised by one Mr Peter Boateng to meet an Italian by name Ivofioroni on it.

He said when Ohene Koffie met Ivofioroni, it was realized that the latter’s (Ivofioroni’s) company was then insolvent, hence the former (Ohene Koffie) paid the debts off and as a result Koffie Timber Agency swallowed Ivofioroni’s company, leading to the creation of Subin Timbers in 1976, with Koffie made the Director.

Mr Kofi Dometi Sokpo, Lead Counsel of the Commission, sought to know from Rev Adabo how it was that there was the existence of Subin Timbers dating back to 1969, since it was impossible under the laws of the country to have two companies with the same name.

At this point, Mr Arthur stepped in to explain that Subin Timbers was founded by the three Directors, which include Ivofioroni and Ohene Koffie, but at a point in time the Company was in debts, it was then that Ohene Koffie paid of f the debts and was made a Director of the Company in 1976.

He said the merger in 1976 led to the two companies (Koffie Timber Agency and Subin Timbers) adopting the name of the Subin Timbers in 1977.

He said during the trial at the High Court it was realized that the files patterning to Subin Timbers at the Registrar General’s Department had some of its vital pages torn off.

Mr Arthur said following the confiscation of the Company in 1979, documents on the Company were taken away by the military, with Mr Ohene Koffie incastrated and Mr Ivofioroni fled the country.

He said after Ohene Koffie’s release, and having received verbal authorization from Mr Ivofioroni to take up the struggle to get the Company de-confiscated, he went ahead to do it in his own name (Ohene Koffie).

Mr Apau then said the Commission would be inviting the Registrar General for further clarifications on the matter.

In the Matter of the divestiture of Central Horticulture Station and Land Compensation payments, the Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee Mr Assakua Agambila and the Chief Valuer of the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission Mr Kwesi Bentsi-Enchill were at the Commission’s sitting to testify.

In the Matter of producing documents on payments made by the state to Construction Pioneers, Mr Eric Kweku Hammond, Chief Manager of the Banking Department of the Bank of Ghana asked for more time to enable them prepare adequately to furnish the Commission with the relevant documents.

The Commission has adjourned sitting to Monday, August 25, 2014.