Tango Over Judgement Debt

…Given 14 Days To Retract Bribery Accusation

Alhaji Yakubu Adam Kasule, Chairman of Gbewaa Group of Companies, who has been accused by Mr. Martin Amidu, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, of attempting to bribe him so that an estimated amount of $6 million judgment debt the government owes his company would be paid to him, has issued a 14- day ultimatum to the minister to retract the accusation and apologize to him. According to him, failure on the part of the minister would compel him to bundle him before the court, as the accusation is baseless and has no merit but only meant to make him look extremely bad in the eyes of the public.

Alhaji Kasule, who called The Enquirer after reading the paper’s last Wednesday publication, which carried the story which said the minister made the accusation, said that the minister was fully aware that he has never made any such moves as he alleged.

He told The Enquirer on the phone that the most honorable thing for the minister to do now is to peacefully retract that accusation and apologize to him. Alhaji Kasule told The Enquirer that it was not his character to litigate but he was yet to fathom why the minister made that accusation when he knew too well that it was not true.

Mr. Amidu accused Alhaji Kasule in the wake of his fruitless attempts to compel the government to pay an amount of $5 million as damages and GH¢1 million as legal fees, as agreed by the former A-G, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu.

According to the publication, when the reporter contacted the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to comment on the issue, he initially refused but insisted that Alhaji Kasule tried to influence him with money to initiate action towards the payment of the judgment debt.

“Apart from that he tried using some government officials and party leaders to appeal to me so that I would pay the money but I refused. Some of these government officials work at the castle,” he told our reporter.

The judgment debt is as result of an Accra High Court ruling in 2008, against the then NPP government and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on December 19, 2008, ordering them to pay Alhaji Kasule’s company, Gbewaa Civil Engineering Limited, an amount of $32 million in damages and human right breaches.

Having assumed the reins of governance of the country after booting out the NPP government from office, the NDC government, through the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu, negotiated and agreed with Alhaji Kasule for the government to pay only $5 million as damages and GH¢1million as legal fees, instead of the $32 million as ordered by the Accra Fast Track Court. Alhaji Kasule told The Enquirer that he agreed to accept the paltry $5 million and GH¢1 million due to the respect he has for the Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu.

“The one million Ghana cedis in legal fees Hon. Betty Mould-Iddrisu negotiated with me to pay is very meager compared to the fact that I spent $3 million in legal fees. My properties both local and abroad were also confiscated and chemicals I imported got spoilt because they were in the harbour for eight months,” he said.