I’M A LAUGHING STOCK
…as he hauls Daily Post editors to court in a useless writ
Alex Segbefia’s boy who was dismissed as Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles
Allocation Committee (CVAC) says he has become a laughing stock and a virtual
talking point in town courtesy the publications of the Daily Post which he
claims are libelous.
He has therefore filed a purported defamation suit against Messrs Michael Dokosi
and Livingstone Pay Charlie, editor and deputy editor of the Daily Post
respectively.
Though the suit was filed in the Accra Fast Track High Court on 6th August,
2010, it was served on the editors on 13th August, 2010. Carl Wilson is seeking
“punitive and exemplary damages for libel published… in the Monday edition of
March 29th 2010” of the Daily Post under the banner headline “CARL WILSON AGAIN!
…Busted for attempted stealing of an allocated car.”
He is praying the court to issue a perpetual injunction to restrain the
defendants from further publishing defamatory matter about him. The sacked CVAC
boss also wants an apology and a retraction of the said article, aggravated
damages and any other order that the court may deem fit.
His lawyer is Chris Ackumey, who came to the political limelight in 2008 through
a group called “Lawyers in Search of True Democracy.”
The said article reported that Carl Wilson was busted for attempted stealing of
a Lancia Dedra, which was allocated to one Mike Quarshie, a Customs Officer at
the Atlas Terminal in Tema. According to the story, Carl Wilson gave the letter
allocating the vehicle to a clearing agent instead of Mr Quarshie. The clearing
agent in his attempt to clear the car was busted and through interrogation
confessed that it was given to him by Carl Wilson. Mr Quarshie was lucky that he
was stationed at the Atlas Terminal, otherwise the car would have been cleared
without his knowledge. Prior to this, the Senior Customs Officer had frequented
the office of Carl Wilson several times to demand his allocation letter but to
no avail. According to Mr Quarshie, Carl Wilson told him that he did not see his
allocation letter. It was however confirmed that Carl Wilson went to the
headquarters of CEPS to collect the said letter and even signed his signature to
that effect.
“Plaintiff says that these words as contained in the publication referred were
understood …in their natural and ordinary meaning…and were understood to mean
[he] is a thief, unreliable, and someone who used fraudulent means to defraud
the unsuspecting public and used his then position as Chairman of the
Confiscated Asset Allocation Committee to cover his misdeeds,” the writ states.
Carl Wilson further states that the said publication was false in every
material and was calculated to disparage him and that he has been brought into
“public ridicule, contempt and hatred and his reputation has been seriously
damaged in the estimation of right thinking members of Ghana and Ghanaians in
the Diaspora as a whole.”
He said the publication of the daily Post caused him the post of CVAC boss and
also has the prospect of causing him any other appointment in government.
Daily Post editors say they are pleasantly surprise by Carl Wilson’s move when
the purported writ was served last week Friday.
The editors said if the writ is indeed true and referred to whatever they have
published on Carl Wilson, then it is definitely a useless case and that Carl
Wilson has opened a can of worms which will be very bad for him. Daily Post
currently sits on voluminous dossier on Carl Wilson’s activities at the ports.
Stay tuned
