The man behind the purchase and importation of controversial 43, now 55, Armor-plated presidential fleet, Kwabena Boateng Aidoo and three of his companies have dragged Harzet Company Limited, publishers of The aL-haJJ newspaper, to an Accra High Court (General Jurisdiction) for defamation.
According to the plaintiffs, Kwabena Boateng Aidoo, Santa Baron Ventures Limited, Apex Consulting Services Limited and PTL Solar Ghana Limited, the paper defamed them when it published in its June 20 and 27, 2017 editions, stories which sought to described them as “criminals who are engaged in sleazy, shady and shifty commercial transactions in Ghana and abroad”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs stated that the stories headlined, “Kwabena Boateng Aidoo - The Man behind the 43 Presidential cars saga” and “Controversial 43 Presidential Vehicles Importer in Fresh Trouble” indicated that Mr Boateng Aidoo and his companies are engaged in shady deals in the country.
Also joined to the suit are Alhaji Bature Iddrisu and Amos B. Amorse, Managing Editor and News Editor of The aL-hAJJ respectively.
Statement of Claim
Lawyer for Mr Boateng Aidoo and his three firms, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, in paragraph eight of their statement of claim said the ordinary meanings of the words of the paper’s two publications “mean and were understood to mean that the plaintiff is a criminal who is engaged in sleazy, shady and shifty commercial transactions in Ghana and abroad”.
The writ also indicates that the words used in the two publications meant “the first plaintiff engages in short-changing the Republic of Ghana and his clients through fraudulent and dishonest commercial dealings.”
It further added that the words were understood to mean “the second –fourth plaintiffs are organized criminal companies employed by the first plaintiff, through a corporate culture of malfeasance and impropriety, to perpetrate fraud on the Republic of Ghana and their other clients through illegal, dishonest, fraudulent, sleazy, shady and opprobrious commercial transactions”.
The plaintiffs, among other things, claimed Mr Boateng’s reputation has “egregiously damaged and he has suffered debilitating distress and embarrassment, adding “the words complained of have adversely reflected on and affected the trading and business reputation of the second – fourth plaintiffs and have caused egregious injury to their goodwill.”
Reliefs
As a result, the plaintiffs are asking the court for injunction restraining the defendants and each of them “whether by themselves, their servants, or organs or otherwise, from further publishing or causing to be published the said or similar words defamatory of the plaintiffs or each of them.”
According to the lawyers, until the court restrained the paper, it will further “publish or cause to be published the said or similar words defamatory of the plaintiffs”, as it has threatened to publish stories about the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs are also seeking “damages, including aggravated damages for libel contained in the defendants’ publications indorsed on the writ of summons by way of an attachment and particularized in paragraphs 5 and 6 above” and “cost, including lawyer’s fees”.
Meanwhile, Lawyers for The aL-hAJJ, Ayine & Felli, have entered appearance on behalf of the defenders.
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