VALCO dragged before court

MR. C. K. YAKA, a Tema-based businessman, has dragged Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) to court claiming ?250 million in damages for selling to him a Ford Vacuum Unloader truck which has not been registered by the licensing division of the Ministry of Transport.

In a 14-point claim filed at the Tema High Court by his solicitor, K. Asuman Adu, plaintiff stated that in or about September 2000, VALCO, the defendant company, advertised in the Ghanaian Times and the Daily Graphic the sale of a Ford Vacuum Unloader, which was being used by VALCO at its plant but which had become obsolete for the business of the defendant.

He stated that on the basis of this publication, he went to the plant to inspect the truck and expressed his desire to purchase it but observed that the licensing division of the Ministry of Transport had not registered it.

When the plaintiff made enquiries from the defendant, the later assured him that he would be assisted to register it.

Based on this assurance, plaintiff bought the truck from the defendant company for ?37,237,500.

The plaintiff avers that after the purchase of the truck, he spent an additional ?212,262,500 to put it in shape.

Plaintiff claims that for the registration the defendant gave him a sales invoice, a letter addressed to the licensing division of the Ministry of Transport, indicating that the truck had been sold to the plaintiff along with a Statutory Declaration to that effect.

When plaintiff took the documents to the licensing division of the ministry, they were rejected on the grounds that they were not substitutes for the import documents.

Plaintiff stated that when he demanded the import documents from the defendant, the latter told him that there was no document relating to the importation of the truck.

Therefore, the plaintiff demanded ?250 million as the cost of the truck, including the amount spent to put it in shape.

Then the truck would be returned to them, but there was no response from the defendant. VALCO in a statement of defence filed by their solicitor, Addae Twum, stated that the said truck was sold as scrap and that plaintiff knew that the said truck had not been registered by the licensing office.

The defendant company further stated that upon inspection by the plaintiff, the latter was informed that the documents covering the scrap equipment could not be traced since the defendant company imported the said equipment into Ghana some 15 years ago for its own use within the smelter site.

They stated that plaintiff knew that the scrap equipment he agreed to buy from the defendant did not have import documents covering it and that he bought it as is where is.

The defendant avers that plaintiff's conduct is only calculated to unjustly take money from the defendant company.

He is, therefore, not entitled to any relief at all against VALCO.