GHC15m Libel suit: NPP merely diverting attention from EOCO saga – Asiedu Nketia

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has described the alleged defamatory suit filed against him by the Board Chairman of the Audit Service, Prof Dua-Agyeman as “mere diversionary tactics of the NPP government” following the controversial EOCO Boss suspension which has been widely condemned by anti-graft bodies.

According to the General Scribe of the NDC, the news about the purported civil suit pressed against him by the Audit Service Board Chair is just a ploy by the government through the popular Tabloid-Daily Guide newspaper to sway attention of the general public from the highly contentious suspension handed to the Eastern Regional Director of EOCO, Fred Dzeny.

“The government knows very well that the issue will be a major radio discussion today and so they’re looking for the opportunity to kill all the conversations that would be centred on that matter. They know that if they throw out anything about me because of my popularity it will sell, that is why they are doing that but that won’t wash.”

Prof Dua-Agyeman, Board Chairman of the Audit Service, has dragged the General Secretary of opposition NDC before an Accra High Court over comments he made on radio intended to damage his reputation, demanding GH¢15 million.

Johnson Asiedu Nketia has been accused of making slanderous statements against the former Auditor General that he was found churning out fake audit reports based on which he was sacked by the accountants association.

According to Mr. Dua-Agyeman, without basis or probable cause, Asiedu Nketia, also known as General Mosquito, “ostensibly sought to impugn the integrity, dignity and reputation of the plaintiff and to ridicule him in the eyes of right-thinking members of society.”

The plaintiff averred that Asiedu Nketia on October 2, 2018 made some unsubstantiated and disparaging statements in the media, accusing him of producing fake audit accounts in 1983 while he was at the Audit Service.

He is reported to have said that “The plaintiff was banned from auditing in 1983 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana) for producing “fake” accounts for a non-existent company. In view of the ban, the plaintiff could not practice as a private auditor, hence his decision to slap him with a gargantuan defamatory suit.

But Mr Asiedu Nketiah told sit-in host Akwasi Nsiah on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM that he’s not been served with any summons and a copy of whatever complaint or Petition that was filed against him in court.

“If the said bailiff doesn’t know my whereabout he should search for me because I haven’t received any summons. As I’m talking to you now I’m at Oda and from there I’ll proceed to Akwatia so they should meet me there and serve me, I’m available.”