Mrs Naomi Kwetey, wife of Mr Fifi Kwetey, Deputy Minister of Finance, through her lawyers is demanding with immediate effect from Daily Guide, an opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagship newspaper, a retraction of a “false and misleading” publication against her “coupled with an unqualified apology.”
According to Oasis Law Consult, who wrote to the Gina Blay newspaper on behalf of their client, “In addition, our client demands that this rejoinder shall be published in the same forceful prominence and manners in which you published the mischievous and misleading reportage.”
A close source to the Kwetey family told The Catalyst that Mrs Naomi Kwetey will have no choice but to sue Daily Guide for defamation if every single one of her demands is not met by the paper.
Please read the full content of the rejoinder below:
January 5, 2012.
The Editor
Daily Guide
Accra, Ghana.
Dear Sir,
RE: ALARM BLOW! TTB MD, MINISTER’S WIFE IN GH¢ 9M DEAL
We act as solicitors for and on behalf of Naomi W. Kwetey. Our client has referred your news article with the aforementioned screaming headline with instructions to reply thereto as follows:
1. Mrs Kwetey is not and has never been the Head of Finance at The Trust Bank as alleged or at all. A simple and sincere piece of good journalism would have revealed that our client is the Business Manager, Institutional Banking of the said Bank since 2009. Secondly, there is no such position of the Head of Treasury at the Trust Bank as alleged or at all. What the bank does have is the office of Treasurer (a position once encumbered by our client).
2.The redundancy package under discussion was approved by the previous Board of the said Bank payable to its Executive Members and five other heads of department aged approximately 55 years and above upon crystallization of the Merger. Mrs Kwetey is not part of the said Executive Members as you alleged or at all. How could she then have been a beneficiary of the redundancy package? This is irresponsible journalism.
3. In tow is the allegation that our client “bagged GH¢ 1.2 million”. We repeat paragraph 2 above and adds that this falsehood is nothing but utter fabrication.
4. In your article you also stated that Mrs Kwetey “effected the payment of the GH¢ 9 million on behalf of her colleagues…into foreign accounts.” This is false. Our client will welcome any evidence to that effect.
5. It is our considered opinion that news organisations such as yours have an obligation to provide accurate, fair and balanced coverage of the news and strive to avoid sensationalism. It is a regrettable commentary that you opted for character assassination over responsible journalism with this very malicious and libellous publication.
6. Reading the opening paragraph of your article, it became blindingly obvious to our client (and indeed to all reasonable persons that would have read the article) that what was at stake was not simply a question of regular and ordinary journalistic duties but a matter of giving the dog a bad name and hanging it by well calculated untruths. In fact, our client strongly believes the aim of the article is to attempt to collectively damage her reputation and by extension that of her husband and the government in which he serves.
7. Kindly be informed that your article regarding our client is a total falsehood. This has caused and continues to cause incalculable embarrassment and damage to her reputation. By this false reportage, you have singularly failed in your basic duty as a news organisation to be truthful and objective.
8. In conclusion there is no credibility to this article of yours. Given the seriousness of the allegations against our client and the harm it has caused her so far, we have her instructions to demand and we do hereby demand the immediate retraction of this false and misleading article against our client coupled with an unqualified apology. In addition our client demands that this rejoinder shall be published in the same forceful prominence and manners in which you published the mischievous and misleading reportage.
9.Kindly be informed that our client reserves the right to take any and every appropriate step to protect and defend her reputation from irresponsible and reckless claims.
Yours sincerely,
Signed
OASIS LAW CONSULT
Cc:Mrs Naomi W. Kwetey
Accra.
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Daily Guide claimed in a publication on Thursday 3rd January 2012 that Mrs Naomi Kwetey 8is involved in a financial scandal at her work place, The Trust Bank (TTB).
“Naomi Kwetey, said to be the wife of Fifi Kwetey, whom six months ago was the head of finance, and 10 other senior managers of The Trust Bank (TTB) were alleged to have shared GH¢59 million (90 billion cedis) as severance packages without the approval of the new board of the TTB,” Daily Guide stated.
And to emphasise, Daily Guide said, “Mrs. Kwetey, currently Head of Treasury, Daily Guide learnt, allegedly effected the payment of the GH¢9 million on behalf of her colleagues including the Managing Director, Larry YirenkyiBoafo, into foreign accounts.”
The paper went on “This was allegedly done to prevent the new owners, the staff and Bank of Ghana from obtaining information of the illegal payment of the monies ranging from GH¢300,000 to GH¢2 million, a source close to this paper disclosed.
Mrs. Kwetey is alleged to have bagged GH¢1.2 million while the MD allegedly collected GH¢2.2 million. However, luck eluded them when one of the senior managers, who allegedly deposited GH¢90,000 of his share into the wife’s bank account at Ecobank, was found out by the bank.”
Mrs Kwetey, according to our source is determined to clear her name by ensuring the right thing is done since she is innocent.
“Everything put out there by Daily Guide in that publication is nothing but a palpable untruth calculated to tarnish Mrs Kwetey and her husband in yet another vicious political attack,” our source pointed out.
