A landlady to whom the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is indebted has impounded eight (8) vehicles belonging to the corporation on the authority of the law courts.
The Nissan Patrol and other expensive four-wheel drives will soon go under the auctioneer?s hammer, if the GNPC or the Energy Ministry fails to pay the landlady, Mrs. Rita Boohene, her ?400million, the Chronicle learnt.
The rent arrears, which originally stood at ?380million but later attracted interest, were all accumulated under the former regime when Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata reigned as Chief Executive of the oil corporation.
According to our investigations, GNPC rented Dr and Mrs. M.K. Boohene?s Airport area posh house for one of its high profile officers.
For five years, the corporation defaulted in rent payment and when the officer left the premises, without informing the owners, the place had grown weedy and electricity and other bills had heaped up.
Mrs. Boohene went to an Accra High Court presided over by Mrs. Inkumsah Abban, with Ms. Akushikah Dadzie of Derby and Co Chambers as her lawyer.
The court ruled on May 21, last year, that GNPC should pay the outstanding debt forthwith.
According to the Managing Solicitor of the Chambers, the ministry under the new administration, undertook to pay the bill.
?It became ?we will pay, we will pay.? But we bore with the ministry for a while because it was under a new regime which needed time to settle,? he said.
But frustrated and with all her patience exhausted, Mrs. Boohene returned to the court, obtained an order of execution and impounded the eight vehicles.
According to the solicitor all the vehicles are with the auctioneer, but added ?The ideal thing is to get the money for our client and not the cars.?
He was, however, unambiguous about their determination to sell the cars pretty soon if the Energy Ministry continues to delay payment of the amount.
?We will have to sell them even though we hate to,? he stressed, revealing that the failure of the ministry to honour its promise had very much annoyed the landlady.
Further investigations showed that the Airport Residence scandal mirrored the ostentatious use to which state resources were put at the GNPC in the hay days of the past government.
Officers of the corporation were dolled on lavishly, after being offered the plushest of accommodation in the most serene environments wherever they were posted, it was gathered.
According to reports, when the corporation got broke, it started withdrawing some of the privileges of its senior staff. And that demoralised many, including the tenant in the Boohenes? property, who withdrew from the work without informing the GNPC or his house owners.
