THE STATE-OWNED Graphic Communications Group has meekly handed over 49 percent of its subsidiary, Afrimedia International, publishers of the London-based West Africa magazine to Mr. Avram Moskovitch, a Romanian Jew, in a phoney ?500,000 deal.
However, the real amount that Moskovitch and his Media Africa Group Company have paid for the 49 percentage shares of West Africa to Graphic since the deal was signed three years ago is just One Pound Sterling, this paper can reveal.
The management of Graphic, led by the Managing Director Mr Berefi Apenteng, have subsequent to the agreement however surrendered management and control of the magazine to Moskovitch.
The magazine, a state asset, is currently under a stranglehold of debt and has not come out since August last year, whilst Graphic has done little to salvage the situation.
Checks by this paper indicate that Graphic has lost almost ?1 billion revenue within the past six months that the magazine has been hibernating
Moskovitch, a shipping mogul had no experience in the media prior to his freakish annexation of the West Africa Magazine, sources say.
In the deal which was signed in 2001, Graphic allowed him and his company Media Africa Group ownership of 49 percent of the magazine.
Gye Nyame Concord?s investigations corroborated by Mrs. Cecilia Davies, Solicitor Secretary of Graphic reveals that in 2001, the Ghanaian media conglomerate agreed to enter into an agreement with Moskovitch on the future of the magazine.
Moskovitch agreed to pay ?500,000 for the ownership of the 49 percent of the company to Graphic.
The Graphic management however asked Mr. Moskovitch to keep the money and reinvest it into the struggling magazine as working capital.
The British Company?s code however debars giving out an enterprise or its parts within the UK without at least a penny exchanging hands.
Therefore Moskovitch paid just one pound symbolically to the Graphic to seal the deal and comply with the provisions of the British Company?s code.
According to Mrs. Davies, ?the arrangement was that the shares was to go to them for one pound, but the actual amount, ?500,000 was supposed to be invested by Moskovitch into the company.
?They could have given us that ?500,000 as our share but we said no don?t give us, use it as a working capital to run the company.?
After this arrangement, Moskovitch?s Media Africa Group Company was asked to take the responsibility of managing the magazine and turning around its fortunes
Three years after this agreement, the magazine is under the iron grip of debt and risks going burst.
This paper?s checks revealed that the telephone lines of the offices of West Africa magazine in London have been severed because of lack of payment of bills and the company itself is completely mired in immobility.
Staffs of the company have not been paid for the past six months. The journalists among them have petitioned the Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIJ) in London to pressurise the management of Graphic to pay their salaries and other allowances.
The Chartered Institute of Journalists is a London-based International organisation which defends the interests of journalists globally.
Mrs. Cecilia Davies confirmed to this reporter in an interview at her office that they have received the letter of complaints from the CIJ and that they would appropriately act on it.
The situation is iffy as Moskovitch has not been cooperative on the current distressed situation of the magazine and the management of Graphic has been cavalier on the issue.
Mrs. Cecilia told this reporter that they would soon meet Moskovitch and his company to discuss the future of the magazine and should there be any logjam between them after the meeting, Graphic would not hesitate to sever their relations with him and his Media Africa Group Company.
Sources close to Moskovitch have hinted that the Romanian is not prepared to hand over his 49 percent shares of the company without insisting on his ?500,000 pounds re-investment capital which he never paid in any way to Graphic.
Gye Nyame Concord has learnt that he is legally prepared to fight the matter in the British Court should it reach that stage.
Should that happen, the management of Graphic would be causing a considerable financial loss to the state enterprise.
Under British Law, sources say the permanent staff of the company would have to be paid their salaries even though they have not worked for the period the magazine had been hibernating. Should the magazine go defunct, the management of the Graphic would have to also compensate them.
