Siaw Family Wants Propety Back

Members of the family of the late J.K. Siaw, whose property was confiscated by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in 1979, have appealed to the government to restore the assets to them.

They have also called on the government to compensate the family for depriving them of the benefits of their sweat and toil for these many years.

Making the appeal on behalf of the family in an interview in Accra, Mr J.A. Siaw, the eldest son of the late industrialist, said many of the assets have been left to deteriorate, adding that it will be unfair to return them without the payment of compensation.

Tata Brewery, the building housing the Goil headquarters, Angelina House at Okaishie, other houses in Accra, the Kwahu area and Kumasi as well as parcels of land and bank accounts were confiscated for Siaw’s alleged evasion of tax.

He questioned the divesture of Tata Brewery to the Ghana Breweries Limited because the family has since the Third Republic appealed to the government to restore the assets, which were considered not properly consficated.

According to him, the divestiture was not transparent because at the time of the action in the mid-1990s, the Attorney General had challeged the authority of the CHRAJ to deal with a petition the family had filed for the restoration of the assets.

Mr Siaw, who said the family has formally petitioned the government over the estate of his father, alleged that those in whose hands the assets were vested are running them down.

He said the family has in its possession the original inventory of the brewery before the take-over by the AFRC regime and claimed that information reaching him indicates that some of the very vital machines have been sold on the foreign market.

Mr Siaw, a trained brewer, said Tata Brewery particularly was poised to lead the crusade for Ghana’s industrialisation when the AFRC military junta confiscated it, leading to the loss of jobs and revenue to the state.

He expressed regret that at the time of the confiscation of the assets, the late Siaw had virtually concluded arrangements for the establishment of a bank in the Goil House.

Mr Siaw said his father had paid money in both foreign and local currencies to the central bank to facilitate the establishment of the bank.

According to him, his father had also acquired an office, printing and banking equipment and built a strongroom for the bank but since the take-over, all the facilities have been stolen or allowed to deteriorate.

Mr Siaw noted that the family is convinced that there was no justification for the take-over because the claim that his father had evaded tax was false, since the brewery had settled all its taxes to the state.

The National Redemption Council (NRC) regime granted the brewery a three year-tax holiday when the factory was inaugurated in January 1973 but when the late General F.W.K. Akuffo became Chairman of the SMC, he signed a decree to abolish the concession and this took restropective effect from 1973, resulting in the brewery becoming indebted to the state.

Mr Siaw said even after this raw deal had been meted out to the family, the management of the brewery took steps to settle the debt and “indeed, it issued a cheque for part-payment of the debt and gave indication to settle the rest through reasonable instalments”.

He called on the government to expedite action on the issue to stop unscrupulous people, including some state officials, from encroaching particularly on the parcels of land vital eqiupment and installations.

Mr Siaw said the family will persist in its demand for the restoration of the assets and indicated that all that the family is calling for is an unconditional release of the property.