Tussle over property at Roman Ridge: Court orders 2 to stay off

An Accra High Court, Land Divi­sion yesterday ordered Dr Afare Apeadu Donkor, former Ghana Ambassador to China and one Ishak Mutawakil to stay off a property that has become a subject of legal battle between the two people.

Dr Donkor and Mr Mutawakli, both defendants in the case as well as their as­signs were ordered to stay away completely from the property located at Roman Ridge pending the filing of the Application and determination of same by their lawyers within 14 days.

Prior to the injunction placed on the two and their assigns, the Airport Police had stepped in to prevent what could have become a fatal attack on residents of the property who were placed there by the plaintiff in the case, Professor Emmanuel Kwame Anatsui.

The lawyers for the defendants, Paul Dzadey, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah and Perella Bruce in their submissions in court prayed against the injunction.

But the lawyers for the plaintiff led by Alexander Afenyo-Markin however argued that the current occupants had been at­tacked in recent times by persons believed to be assigns of the defendants.

Mr Afenyo-Markin produced exhibits in court to prove that the current occu­pants were attacked by men on motorbikes carrying offensive weapons and, therefore, a restraining order against them was neces­sary which the court granted.

The plaintiff, in the statement of claim, said he approached the 1st Defendant for the purchase of the property and that checks revealed that the said property was on state land which was leased to Blackwood Hodge (Gold Coast Limited) for a term of 75 years who subsequently assigned same to the 1st Defendant in a deed dated November 16, 1992.

However, further due diligence un­earthed that the 1st Defendant in a deed dated June 15, 2010, had sold and assigned its interests including rights and obliga­tions to UT FINANCIAL SERVICES thereby extinguishing all interests of the 1st defendant to the said Property.

Plaintiff avers that UT Financial Services in a deed dated April 18, 2011, assigned all its interest including its rights and obligations in the said property to him after the payment of a $750,000 receipt, which UT Financial Services duly acknowl­edged.

According to Plaintiff, the 1st Defendant had at the time not obtained the requisite consents and subdivision ap­proval from Lands Commission in favour of UT Financial Services, he agreed to obtain the requisite consents in favour of Plaintiff and the cost of the consent to be shared between the Plaintiff and the 1st Defendant.

The Plaintiff explained that he contin­ued to enjoy the peaceful occupation of the property until September 27, 2021, when the 1st Defendant through his lawyer sought to evict him from the said property stating that he had exercised the option to renew under the head lease although he had assigned all his interests in the said land including rights and obligations to UT Financial Services (UT Bank Limited) who had subsequently assigned its interest to the Plaintiff.