n Paid
£4million to CP in judgement debt
n Paid
£1.5million to foreign lawyers in CP case they lost
n Ordered
by court to pay $3.55million to CALF cocoa
n Ordered
by court to pay $87million in Rockshell case
n Allowed
judgement debt to increase from GH¢50,279.96 to GH¢6million
n Allowed
judgement debt to CCWL to increase from $12million to $29million
n Left
debt of $581,333 & 50,778 in legal fees
Archival search
conducted by the Daily Post reveals
that through sheer vindictiveness, the colossal amount of money ex-President
Kufuor and his cronies caused the state to lose is enough to choke a stubborn
elephant to death.
From illegally
abrogating contracts won by corporate entities to refusing to pay judgement
debts incurred after they have been dragged to court as a result, Mr. Kufuor,
his Attorney-Generals Nana Akufo-Addo and Joe Ghartey as well as other members
of his cabinet caused the nation to lose monies running into trillions of cedis
which could have been used to provide the populace with potable drinking water,
schools, hospitals and other social amenities.
In some cases, they
did not only lose cases at international courts for illegally abrogating
contracts but also ended up paying as much as €1.5 million to the solicitors
they hired.
Dismayed and
appalled at the arrogance, vindictiveness and the colossal amount of monies that
the state was losing as a result
of the judgement debts, a judge, after awarding cost against the state in a
case had this to say;
“It is sad to say the least that Public
Officials who are entrusted with the public good and who are expected to act in
utmost good faith will so create a situation which will result in creating
financial loss situations in the country.”
The judge’s pain is understandable when a cursory study of how some of
the judgment debts came to be incurred is conducted.
Illegally abrogating contracts
*CP vrs AG: Construction and
Engineering firm, CP, dragged the NPP government to court in 2001 for abrogating
four contracts it was
executing. Kufuor and his cronies refused to make payment until CP obtained an
enforcement order of the arbitral award. The NPP Government was forced to
settle to the tune of £4,000,000.00 (Four million pounds).
* Calf
Cocoa v Attorney General: In this case, Calf Cocoa, a joint Ghanaian-Chinese
venture dragged the NPP government to court for refusing to honour an agreement
between the Government of Ghana and Calf Cocoa for the payment of US$1,800,000.00
as working capital, after the
construction of the cocoa processing factory. In addition to the amount of
US$1,800,000.00 claimed by the company, the Government of Ghana was ordered by
the court in its ruling to pay an additional sum of US$1,750,000.00 towards
rehabilitating the factory, together with interest.
· City
and Country Waste Limited (CCWL) Vrs AMA: CCWL sued the AMA
for abrogation of a contract signed in 1997 after the AMA refused to pay it an
amount of $10 million it owed it. The court ruled in favour of CCWL and an
awarded to CCWL the sum of over US$12,000,000.00 inclusive of interests and
all.
HOW much more refusing to pay judgemnet debt caused the state
Instead of negotiating paying judgment debts
quickly or negotiating terms of payment, Kufuor and his cronies simply refused
to pay. The result was that interest accrued so much that in some cases, by the
time the NDC returned to power, the state owed some of the companies which had
dragged it to court more than twice the amount the court had ordered the state
to pay. A few of the examples include;
CCWL Vrs AMA: The $12,000,000 (12 million
dollars)judgment debt awarded against the state rose to $29,000,000 (29 million
dollars) by 2009 because Kufuor and his
cronies refused to pay the initial amounts. AMA appealed to the Court of Appeal
and lost. It then appealed to the Supreme Court.
In a judgment delivered in February 2008, the
Supreme Court did not only agree with the High Court and Court of Appeal, but
further awarded to CCWL interest from July 2001 until the date of the final
payment of the judgment debt.
If the matter had been settled even after the
judgment of the High Court or the Court of Appeal this kind of debt would have
been avoided. This is another case of bad governance
MONEY WASTED ON SOLICITORS :
(i) US $581, 333.00 and £50, 778.37 is
outstanding in respect of legal fees owed Ghana’s foreign solicitors who
handled the CP matter on the country’s behalf. Ghana lost that case and coughed
out $4 million to CP.
(ii) Under the NPP government, a foreign solicitor
hired by the state involving the State and a foreign investor used to be paid
£100,000. This is a case of bad governance. By March 2009, Ghana had paid
almost £1.5 million to the foreign lawyers handling a case between the GOG and
an automobile company.
Of course, Mr.
Kufuor couldn’t care less about the colossal amount of money the state was
losing in so far as he was killing businesses owned by people perceived to be
friendly towards the NDC and especially as he was making so much money from kickbacks.
Sadly, thanks to Martin
Amidu, the docile Attorney-General, Kufuor will soon be a free man who can no
longer be brought to book from January 7, 2012 as it will mark the end of the
three years period during which time legal action can be taken against him for
any act of financial malfeasance which resulted in financial loss to the state.
