The tussle over the ownership of a Mercedes Benz C240 has taken a dramatic turn with the defendant in the case filing a civil suit against the Nigerian claimant.

Mr Joseph Basie Haizel, Director of Jobesh Car Rental company, defendant now plaintiff, is seeking an order from the High Court to declare that the

Mercedes Benz he bought in Accra is his. Mr Ufouma Omorode, the Nigerian and Yaw Boakye an Accra-based businessman are the defendants.

Mr Omorode and Mr Haizel are each laying claim to the car, which was seized by Interpol Accra in collaboration with Interpol Lagos after the manufacturers, Daimler Chrysler in Germany, through their agents in Lagos, realised that the car commissioned to Nigeria had surfaced in Ghana.

Mr Haizel claims he bought the vehicle from a Nigerian at Osu but Mr Omorode had presented documents certifying that he bought the car from Daimler Chrysler in Stuttgart, Germany, through their agent in Lagos. Mr Omorode said the car was taken from him at gunpoint on the night of December 12, 2000 at Doplin Estates in Ikoyi in Lagos.

The suit of Haizel, a copy of which was made available to the Ghana News Agency, is seeking an injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the plaintiff's rights as owner of the said vehicle and damages equivalent in dollars for the period of detention of the vehicle.

The suit is also seeking a declaration that the plaintiff is the bona fide purchaser for value without notice of the car with registration number GR 298 S. Mr Ekow Nyamakye Awoonor, an Accra-based legal consultant, representing the second defendant told the GNA that his client had received the suit and would respond accordingly.

He, however, noted that the writ was a strange one especially since Mr Haizel was facing a criminal charge of dishonestly receiving, which was a second degree felony.

Mr Awoonor said either the Police or the Attorney -General might have dropped the first case. Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, the Attorney -General, said he was not aware that the criminal charges against Mr Haizel had been dropped.

Mr James Abioduka, the Sate Attorney handling the case, also denied any knowledge of any attempt to drop the previous charges. "I do not have anything to do with the criminal charges only the civil one," he said. The GNA says its investigations at the Police Criminal Investigations Department confirmed that the Police were still pursuing the case at the court.