You are here: HomeSportsSoccer2012 10 30Article 254781

Soccer News of Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Source: www.ghanasoccernet.com

Court throws out Abraham Boakye quest

Abraham Boakye has been subjected to another Ghana Premier League humiliation in court after his quest to have the case re-opened was thrown out by the High Court.

The leader of the supporter group GHANSU is now facing a huge defeat with the ruling over the sponsorship of league now scheduled for 14 December. Boakye, also known as One Man Supporter, went to court claiming brought officials of the company to Ghana to broker the deal worth US$15m. Bright Akwettey, counsel for Abraham Boakye, wanted the court to subpoena personalities after both parties had presented their case before the court. The lawyer wanted Director of Ghana Immigration Service and others to appear claiming they are relevant to the determination of the case.

Akwettey sought to challenge the veracity of minutes of a meeting tendered by Kofi Nsiah, immediate past General Secretary of the GFA, held on October 14, 2008.

The meeting had in attendance the likes of Randy Abbey (then GFA Spokesperson), Welbeck Abra Appiah (Chairman, Premier League Board), Renee Williams (Chief Executive, Afrisat) and Fred Crentsil (GFA Executive Committee member).

According to Akwettey, his checks has proved that Abbey and Williams were not in the country at the time of the meeting whilst Abra Appiah and Crentsil were neither present.

However, the judge Richard Adjei Frimpong threw out the claim by Akwettey saying the motion failed to form a sufficient ground that the alleged minutes were forgeries, thus “devoid of merit and accordingly dismissed.”

Monday's ruling paves the way for the judge to rule over the substantive case which looks stacked against Boakye after Glo rejected his claims that he played any role in securing the sponsorship deal.

Boakye, a branding ambassador for Glo, was only chosen to wear the company’s paraphernalia at football matches to promote the brand. But he went court saying he wants 15% commission of the $15m paid to him as agency fee claiming he was cheated by the GFA as he brought the Nigerian officials to meet the GFA therefore he brokered the deal. However, the Nigerian firm delivered an embarrassing blow to his ambitions of getting the commission when the case was being heard, insisting to the court that Boakye played no role.

“This agreement (we have with Boakye) is the agreement that you find with people like Nadia Buari, Van Viker, all these ambassadors that Glo had,” Sulaiman Kolawole Bello, the advertising manager of Glo told the Accra High Court while explaining the agreement the company has with Boakye.

“It does not involve them in our business in any manner to negotiate on our behalf or to sign any contract on our behalf or to facilitate anything on our behalf. What they have is the branding agreement.”

At the crux of his legal battle against the GFA was Boakye’s assertion that he brought officials of the Nigerian company to Ghana to sponsor the Black Stars and the local league.

But Glo said they were already interested in sponsoring Ghana football as part of their marketing strategy for the start of their Ghana operations insisting they have no contract with Boakye as their marketing agency.