Lawyers to expose FRAGA oil

An Accra-based legal firm has begun the first step in a series of actions to stop FRAGA Oil and its owner Mr. Francis Nyonyo Agboada from using the Cantonments Police to violate the rights of innocent Ghanaians.

In a motion filed at the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court on Wednesday, Cardinal Law Group said two of their clients, Messrs Owusu Ansah and Alex Denkyira are unfortunately caught in the web of Mr Agboada's intrigues to bastardise the Ghana Police Service.

An affidavit accompanying the motion recounts that the two individuals were arrested sometime in April 2014 on a complaint by Mr. Agboada.

"That since then, the 5th Respondent (Mr. Agboada) has been using his links with the police and using them to harass and interfere with our freedoms.

That even when we had been granted police enquiry bail at the Cantonments station, 5th respondent used his influence to ensure that the bond was not immediately executed till beyond midnight," the affidavit claims.

It further states, "…when we had been asked to make periodic report to the station, the 5th respondent once again influenced the police to re-arrest us on the preceding day before our report and we were arraigned before the court even without any opportunity for us to call our lawyers.

"That after we managed to call our lawyers who came to court to apply for bail for us, the 5th respondent again put impediments in our way and we spent 3 days in custody before the Registrar executed the bail bond for us," the affidavit explains.

According to the lawyers, the filing of the motion which was also served on the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police was to stop any further harassment of their clients by the police.

However, a very nasty development took place at the forecourt of the Accra District Magistrate Court when the police led by one Inspector Peter were served with the motion papers.

Eye witnesses at the court told this paper the police refused and instead insisted on re-arresting Messrs Owusu Ansah and Denkyira who were shortly that Wednesday acquitted and discharged by the Accra District Magistrate Court following the filing of a nolle prosequi by the state with a promise to pursue the matter in a High Court.

It was an extreme embarrassment for the Cantonments Police when they took a case involving some GHS 30,000 to an inferior court like the Magistrate Court.

The two individuals after being re-arrested that Wednesday at the court premises were later released after another caution statement was taken from them. This was under the supervision of the new commander at the Cantonments Police Station who has vowed never to allow his station to be compromised.

Court records show that for the best moments that the court sat for prosecution and Mr. Agboada's Fraga Oil to present their case, they were conspicuously absent without any explanation.

Mr. Agboada and Fraga Oil are alleging that the two individuals caused damage to their canopy and sign board erected at a filling station in Pokuase, an Accra suburb. The two have denied the charge, insisting the station does not belong to Mr. Agboada.

Mr Alex Denkyira who manages the filling station for the rightful; owner Mr S.A. Anom told Ghana Daily the only things at the station that belong to Fraga are two underground storage tanks and dispensing pumps.

"Fraga is doing these desperate things because we want to sever commercial relationship with him and move to a different Oil Marketing Company," Mr. Denkyira said.

Relating to Nana Owusu Ansah who owns a filling station around the North Industrial Area in Accra, Mr Agboada claims the former defrauded him when he issued two dud cheques over a consignment of bulk oil delivered.

In his caution statement to the police, Nana Owusu Ansah vehemently denied the charges, saying the values on the two cheques in question had been paid in cash to one of Fraga workers Mr Agboada had been sending to him in 2009.

"I have an arrangement with him (Mr. Agboada). Any time they bring the product, I issue them a covering cheque and later get my cheque back after paying cash. I suspect mischief and malice in these moves.

"Why did they hold on to these cheques for over 5 years without any demands on me if I truly owe them as they claim?" Nana Owusu Ansah asked.

He added that he would surely walk free from the charges in any court he would be taken to.

Police sources at Cantonments station told this paper Mr Agboada has abandoned the case of impersonation leveled against Nana Owusu Ansah when it was discovered that the latter was duly given a power of attorney by Mr S.A. Anom to oversee operations at the Pokuase Filling station.

The motion filed by lawyers is scheduled to be moved on 7th May, 2014 and this paper will report exclusively for our readers.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Law Group have also expressed their readiness to meet Mr Agboada squarely in the High Court to prove his allegations of causing damage to property.

"The police have stopped being debt collectors since 1992. If Mr. Agboada thinks he's being owed, he should he to the civil courts and stop these antics," one of the lawyers of Cardinal Law Group stressed.

Your authoritative newspaper will in subsequent editions report extensively on current moves by an obviously infuriated Chief Justice Georgina Wood to investigate the alleged involvement of Mr. Nyonyo Agboada's Fraga in fixing and arranging for a Magistrate Court to sit after 4 pm without recourse to the usual administrative channels of the Judicial Service.

Stay tuned.

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