More Trouble Over PV’s ‘Ogbojo House’ Deal

…No Proof Of Payment Yet!

SOURCE: NEW CRUSADING GUIDE

The Editorial Team of The New Crusading GUIDE is still waiting for Mr. P.V. Obeng and his Solicitors to provide proof or evidence of payment for the purchase of House Number MIC37/1 situate at Ogbojo in the Tema District of the Greater Accra Region which belonged to the late Renate Noce of Michelleti & Company fame.

Readers will recall that this paper in its November 8, 2010 edition, reported that a letter dated November 5, 2010 had been sent to Mr. P.V. Obeng from The New Crusading GUIDE requesting from him “any form of proof (cheque, handwritten note, receipt, etc. of payment for the purchase of the house”.

A text message containing the same request was also sent to Mr. Obeng’s mobile phone to which he responded that “I am out of town and will meet you on your request when I return. Nicholas wouldn’t have evidence of payments”.

Nicholas was a gentleman Mr. Obeng had earlier introduced to this reporter as “the Agent for the late Renate Noce”, and had directed to provide this reporter with all the relevant documents on the ownership of the house under reference.

Nicholas subsequently provided this paper with two documents; an Indenture of Lease dated February16, 1993 and an indenture (Deed) of Assignment dated March 15, 2006. HE HOWEVER INDICATED THAT HE COULD NOT PROVIDE ANY PROOF OF PAYMENT AND ALSO HAD NO IDEA OF HOW MUCH MR. OBENG HAD PAID FOR THE HOUSE, SINCE HE (NICHOLAS) WAS NOT ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE TRANSACTION, ADDING THAT “MR. RENATO NOCE AND MR. P.V. OBENG, BEING ‘LONG-STANDING, INTIMATE FRIENDS’, ONLY ASKED HIM (NICHOLAS) TO FACILITATE THE DOCUMENTATION”.

Mr. Obeng had earlier told this reporter that sometime in 2006, Mr. Noce expressed the desire to re-locate to his hometown, Italy and indicated his intention to sell the house he (Noce) was staying in.

“I expressed interest in buying the house and an agreement was reached that same year (2006 and the purchase of the house was completed”, intimated Mr. P.V. Obeng. He however declined to disclose how much he bought the property for.

Mr. Obeng rather produced a copy of an email dated August 26, 2010 from Roberto Noce, one of the sons of the late Renato Noce which was addressed to him (PV) and copied to Emmanuela, daughter of Renato Noce. Portions of the email ‘implied’ Renato Noce’s acknowledgement of Mr. Obeng’s ownership of the ‘Ogbojo hosue’.

Nicholas also disclosed that a letter seeking the consent of Roberto Noce in whose name the ‘Ogbojo house’ had been registered, for the consummation of the March 15, 2006 transaction, was sent via DHL to him (Roberto Noce) in the USA for his signature and approval. Though Nicholas claimed the letter of consent was duly signed and returned to Accra, unfortunately he could not trace it and therefore could not give The New Crusading GUIDE a copy for our scrutiny and perusal.

It was against this background that Our Editorial Team formally wrote to both Mr. Obeng and Mr. Roberto Noce, seeking more documentary proof of the transaction including the proof of payment and the alleged letter of consent. Please see page 2 for evidence of a series of correspondence to that effect.

After the delivery of a hand-delivered letter, followed by email correspondence and text message from The New Crusading GUIDE to Mr. P.V. Obeng beginning from November 5, 2010 the latter, six(6) days later, caused his lawyers/Solicitors to write to this paper in reference to our November 8, 2010 story titled: “14 Years After CHRAJ Probe Of NDC Ministers & Public Officials – PV BUYS BACK ‘OGBOJO HOUSE’”.

“Please be informed that we have been instructed by our client, Paul Victor Obeng, the subject of your said publication, to represent his interest in the matter. As a result we shall be grateful if all correspondence including any enquiries could be directed to us rather than through our Client. We hope you will comply with our request to enable this issue be brought to a satisfactory end”, articulated Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors, Oseawuo Chambers & Co. of Tema in their November 11, 2010 letter to The New Crusading GUIDE.

The New Crusading GUIDE promptly acknowledged receipt of Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors’ letter via an email dated November 12, 2010 in which the paper’s Editorial Team expressed their willingness “to correspond directly with you instead of your Client as you requested in your letter”.

While pointing to the fact that there had been smooth correspondence and co-operation between the paper and Mr. Obeng prior to the receipt of the letter from his (Obeng’s) Solicitors, The Crusading GUIDE underscored that “WE THEREFORE WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL IF YOU COULD PROVIDE US WITH ANY FORM OF PROOF (CHEQUE, HANDWRITTEN NOTE, RECEIPT, ETC.) OF PAYMENT OF THE PURCHASE OF THE HOUSE BY YOUR CLIENT”.

“The request is very important because the answer would enrich our story as we seek to educate our cherished readers through well researched, accurate and a balanced reportage. Attached is an earlier correspondence with your client dated 5th November, 2010”, noted this reporter on behalf of The New Crusading GUIDE’s Editorial Team.

Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors promptly acknowledged receipt of our November 12, 2010 email and promised to “revert in due course” on the subject-matter of ‘proof of payment’. This was on November 13, 2010.

The Editorial Team of The New Crusading GUIDE in turn, on November 17, 2010, expressed their appreciation of the “swift acknowledgement of our letter to you requesting for any form of proof of payment done by your Client, Mr. Paul Victor Obeng in respect to the purchase of the house which belonged to Renato Noce, now deceased”.

“As you would appreciate”, the paper continued, “the nature of our profession is that we work within a timelimit in order to sustain the interest of our esteemed readers, not forgetting the importance of accuracy, fairness, well researched and a balanced reportage”.

“We therefore would be grateful if you could attend to our request in the shortest possible time so that the story could be brought to a conclusive end”, pleaded the Editorial Team.

Mr. Obeng’s Solicitors’ response to the above email was swift, simple and short.

“DEAR SIR, MANY THANKS FOR YOUR LETTER OF 17TH INSTANT. WILL REVERT SHORTLY”.

And so here we are, we are still waiting for ‘Godot’. TODAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2010, ALMOST 21 DAYS SINCE WE BEGAN OUR FORMAL ENQUIRIES INTO THE ‘OGBOJO HOUSE’ TRANSACTION AND 17 CLEAR DAYS SINCE WE SOUGHT PROOF OF PAYMENT OF THE PURCHASE OF THE HOUSE FROM MR. OBENG, AND NEARLY A WEEK AFTER DEALING WITH HIS SOLICITORS, THE NEW CRUSADING GUIDE IS YET TO SIGHT ANY DOCUMENTARY PROOF OF PAYMENT; NO CHEQUE, NO RECEIPT, NO HANDWRITTEN NOTE TO CONFIRM THE PURPORTED PURCHASE OF THE LATE RENATO NOCE’S ‘OGBOJO HOUSE’ BY HIS LONG-STANDING, INTIMATE FRIEND, MR. P.V. OBENG.

In another development, parallel enquiries directed at Mr. Roberto Noce, son of the late Renato Noce, in whose name the father had registered the house, and who, according to Nicholas, had signed a letter of consent to approve the transaction, are yet to bear fruits. Roberto Noce has so far failed to respond to two emails sent to him by our Editorial Team.

In view of Nicholas’ inability to trace the letter of consent allegedly signed by Roberto Noce, The New Crusading GUIDE’s investigative team decided to seek answers to the following questions from Roberto Noce who is now based in Texas, USA.

In a November 6, 2010 email we posed four (4) questions for his reaction. These were “(1) WHO IS THE CURRENT OWNER OF THE HOUSE? (2) DID YOU GIVE YOUR CONSENT FOR THE SALE OF THE HOUSE? (3) IN WHICH FORM WERE YOU ASKED TO GIVE YOUR CONSENT AND IN WHICH FORM DID YOU GIVE IT ( WORD OF MOUTH, HANDWRITTEN LETTER, ETC.)? AND (4) DO YOU HAVE ANY PROOF OF PAYMENT RELATIVE TO THE PURCHASE OF THE HOUSE BY MR. P.V. OBENG?”

On November 9, 2010, a second email containing the same set of questions was sent to Roberto Noce, reminding him that “this letter was originally sent to you on Saturday, 6th November, 2010 and we would be very grateful if you could let us have your all important response”. 16 days gone by and silence has been Roberto’s answer to our four (4) simple questions.

Meanwhile, Nicholas, the man Mr. P.V. Obeng had earlier introduced to us as ‘the Agent of the late Roberto Noce”, called this reporter (Gordon Asare-Bediako on Monday 8th November, 2010 on phone to complain about portions of the story this paper had carried on that same day about the transaction.

Contrary to Mr. Obeng’s introduction of him as ‘Agent of Renato Noce’; an introduction Mr. Obeng had done in his (Nicholas’) presence in Mr. Obeng’s NDPC Office in Accra, Nicholas stated that he (Nicholas) was not ‘the Agent for Renato Noce’ before the 2006 Agreement between Mr. Obeng and Mr. Noce was reached for the purported sale of the ‘Ogbojo house’.

He insisted that it was only after the death of Renato Noce in 2009 that PV Obeng called him (Nicholas) to facilitate the documentation on the house.

Readers will recall that although the Deed of Assignment which Nicholas gave to this paper, was dated March 15, 2006, he (Nicholas) told this paper that Emmanuela, a daughter of Renato Noce in 2009, after the death of her father, asked him (Nicholas) about the status of the property to which he (Nicholas) answered it (house) belonged to Roberto Noce.

“At that time I did not know the property had been sold”, Nicholas told The New Crusading GUIDE. And yet three (3) years before the demise of Renato Noce, the same Nicholas, according to his own account, had been asked by the two “longtime intimate friends”, Renato Noce and PV Obeng, “to facilitate the documentation” on the transaction which was sealed in March 2006.

This same Nicholas, the “Land Documentation Agent” who was introduced to this reporter as the “Agent of the late Renato Noce” by Mr. P.V. Obeng, subsequently after reading our November 8, 2010 story on the transaction involving the ‘Ogbojo house’, called to say he was not ‘the Agent for Renato Noce’ before the 2006 Agreement between PV Obeng and Renato Noce was reached, and that it was only after the death of Renato Noce in 2009 that Mr. Obeng called him (Nicholas), “to facilitate the documentation on the house”!

As indicated in our November 8, 2010 story, our investigations were triggered by information received from concerned sections of the family of Mr. Renato Noce who died interstate on February 12, 2009, to the effect that Mr. Obeng was claiming ownership of the late Noce’s ‘Ogbojo house’; something which they (concerned sections of the Noce family) considered unfair and insensitive.

The concerned Noce family sources had also expressed surprise that Mr. Obeng appeared to be dealing with Texas-based Roberto Noce and his sister, Emmanuela while ignoring the fact that the late Renato Noce had other children including Alberto Noretti, a journalist and the EU Correspondent for the State-owned Daily Graphic.

They explained that even though the ‘Ogbojo House’ had been registered under the name of Roberto Noce”, “under Italian laws all the children have equal rights in respect of what their father left behind and so nobody can deal with only one child and hope to achieve sustainable and legitimate results/outcome”.

House No: MIC37/1 which is the subject-matter of our investigation was one of the four single storey houses situate at Ogbojo opposite the Local Government Training Institute at Madina, which became the object of enquiry by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in 1995 and 1996 following a series of publications by the Ghanaian Chronicle and The Free Press alleging corruption and illegal acquisition of property against Mr. P.V. Obeng, then Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs.

Both Mr. Obeng and Renato Noce appeared before the Commission. While Mr. Obeng told the Commission that the plot on which the house stood was originally his but he had sold it in February 1993 to Mr. Roberto Noce whom he said was acting through his father, Renato Noce, the latter tendered in evidence an Indenture dated February 16, 1993 and a copy of a Leasehold Agreement executed in his favour by Mary Dufie (PV Obeng’s daughter), to confirm his ownership of the house under reference.

The Commission, after its examination of evidence of acts of ownership over the property exercised by Renato Noce, RULED THAT THE PROPERTY IN QUESTION WAS INDEED LEGITIMATELY OWNED BY RENATO NOCE, AND NOT PV OBENG, AND THUS CLEARED MR. OBENG OF ALL THE ALLEGATIONS OF ILLEGAL ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY AND CORRUPTION MADE AGAINST HIM BY THE MEDIA.

As recalled in our November 8, 2010 edition the Commission, in the face of the weight of evidence examined, made the following findings in respect of the four (4) storey houses situate as Ogbojo.

Here we go again: *(1): “The four (4) storey buildings at Ogbojo are the property of Mr. Renato Noce, Managing Director of Michelleti Company Limited. The evidence was clear that Mr. Obeng granted a 50 year lease of the land to Mr. Noce in 1993. An indenture evidencing the transaction dated 16th February, 1993 was accordingly signed. The execution formalities were concluded on 23rd February 1993 with a Certificate of Proof signed by the Deputy Chief Registrar of the High Court, Koforidua. The Commission finds no evidence either direct or indirect which suggests that the buildings were put up by Mr. P.V. Obeng. Apart from the indenture, Mr. Noce has exercised such acts of ownership that leaves no doubt that he is the lawful owner of the property.

*(2): “The Commission also accepts Mr. Noce’s explanation that he was compelled to use Mr. Obeng’s documents on the land to apply for building permit because his (Noce’s) documents had not been registered. This explanation is accepted as plausible because construction work started soon after the lease agreement, and considering the time it takes to register documents on land, Mr. Noce would have had to wait for several months, if not years to start the project.

*(3): “The Commission also found that because Mr. Noce had to use Mr. Obeng’s document for an early take-off of the project, the name on that document, i.e. Mary Ann Dufie, also had to be used in applying for utility supplies such as electricity and water. This explains why that name appeared on utility bills. As a matter of fact, the bills were actually issued in the joint names of Mary Ann Dufie and Michelleti & Co. Despite the fact the bills bore the two names, the fact was established that those bills were incurred and paid for by Mr. Noce.

*(4): “The Commission also found no evidence to support the suggestion that Mr. Noce put up those buildings as a gift to Mr. Obeng in appreciation of a favour done him. As a matter of fact, the Commission’s attention was not brought to Mr. Noce having received any form of assistance from Mr. Obeng for which he was obliged to give property worth ¢300 million in gratitude”. (Source: CHRAJ Report In The Matter Of Investigation Into Allegation Of Illegal Acquisition Of Properties – Mr. Paul Victor Obeng – 1995/96 – Pages 22 & 23).

Please stay tuned…