Gbewaa Engineering in battle over Croat’s trucks

Drama is unfolding at Tema between the Chairman of Gbewaa Civil Engineering and Construction Limited, Alhaji Adamu Yakubu Kasule, and a Croat who shipped a number of vehicles into the country.

Even though Customs and police investigations have concluded that the vehicles are the bona fide properties of the Croat, Alhaji Kasule is still holding onto them.

The Chronicle’s independent investigations revealed that early this year, the Croat businessman, who owns Enikon D.D. Limited, with franchises in Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, decided to ship a number of trucks through Ivory Coast.

However, his representative in Ghana, Richard Parker, well aware of the efforts to promote the Ghanaian ports as gateways to Africa, convinced the Croat to ship them through Tema instead. On June 15, 2014, Parker took delivery of two trucks – Daf Man Diesel (one with a tipper bucket and the other a low-bed) – from the Tema Port.

Earlier in February, this year, Parker established a friendship with the Managing Director of Gbewaa Civil Engineering and Construction, Lukumanu Yakubu, and sought permission from the Director for space in his yard to keep the vehicles for a fee of GH¢400. Later, after receiving another consignment, he decided to send them to the same yard.

The Managing Director allegedly allowed him to park the trucks in addition to the earlier ones parked for a fee of GH¢800, which money he followed Parker to the Kessben Hotel at Tema Community 5 to collect.

According to Parker, he promised to go for the vehicles in August for onward transportation to Ivory Coast. Barely 2 weeks afterward, Parker said he was in Ivory Coast when he had a call from Lukumanu to the effect that his (Parker) uncle, Alhaji Yakubu Kasule, wanted them to vacate the yard.

According to him, he returned after a fortnight to convey the vehicles to a different location as instructed, only to realise that the Alhaji had taken custody of all the ignition keys to the vehicles, and no amount of persuasion would make the Chairman release the keys and vehicles.

Lawyer Gyeabour of Accra, who is the legal advisor to the company, intervened and pleaded for the release of the trucks, but Alhaji remained unconvinced.

The Tema Regional Criminal Investigations Department (CID received a report from Richard Parker, and even though Lukumanu Yakubu was invited and his statement taken, his uncle refused to assist the police in Tema to enquire into the case.

The CID Headquarters in Accra then informed the Tema police of a report from Alhaji that he suspected that the trucks were stolen, so he wanted further investigations to establish the truth or otherwise of the matter.

The plainclothesmen at the Headquarters did all their checks, including Interpol and Customs, where a Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Gavor, investigated and submitted a report that the said vehicles were genuinely shipped, and that they belonged to the shipper, Ratmir Andrijanic, the Croat.

Meanwhile , reports from the Police Headquarters said Alhaji Adamu Yakubu Kasule is entertaining fears that his nephew, Lukumanu Yakubu, Managing Director of his company, might have diverted funds from his company to purchase the trucks, hence, his unwillingness to release them.

The shipper, Ratmir Andrijanic, who has arrived in the country over the past fortnight to assist with the investigation, is willing to discuss even rent fees with Alhaji Kasule for parking the trucks at his yard, but the Chairman would have none of it.

When the Alhaji was contacted, he referred The Chronicle to either his lawyer, Gyeabour, or the police for further clarification. The lawyer, on his part, suggested that The Chronicle wait patiently for the outcome of police investigations.

The Director General of CID, Commissioner of Police (COP) Prosper Agblorh, when contacted, confirmed that his outfit was investigating the matter, but ruled out a report that the Alhaji had the power not to release the vehicles, should the police even say so.