An Indian businessman who says he feels harassed by Minister for the Interior Ambrose Dery as well as the Comptroller of the Ghana Immigration Service Kwame Takyi and Deputy Comptroller General in-charge of Operations, Laud Afrifa, has petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to intervene.

Ashok Kumar Sivaram accused the three men of conspiring to dispossess him of his own firm Jai Mai Communications Limited, and hand it over to his business partner, thus doing everything possible to deport him from Ghana.

In a petition dated 15 August 2017, Ashok said: “Mr. President, the action of the respondents is a deliberate ploy to render my status in the country without a valid permit in order to easily facilitate my removal from the jurisdiction.

“This action by the respondents is also a clear attempt to undermine the order for valuation of the company the by high court dated 5th May, 2017. Mr. President, I implore you as the father of the nation to graciously step in to resolve the matters raised in my petition. I shall forever be grateful to you for your prompt action on this matter,” he said.

Mr Ashok returned to Ghana after an Accra High Court on July 31, 2017 quashed Mr Dery’s deportation orders against him. He had been deported on allegations of fraud relating to his acquisition of a fake marriage certificate to enable him stay in Ghana – a claim the Indian denies.

Mr Ashok says the harassment is unbearable. “Mr. President, whilst the respondents are failing to conduct their statutory work, they keep sending Immigration Officials after me ostensibly to arrest and repatriate me so to lock my huge investments in Ghana in order to aid my business partner to take over my business interest. Mr. President the respondents are refusing to restore my residence/work permit even though the deportation order based on which my residence/work permit was cancelled by them has been quashed by the High Court in a ruling delivered on 31st July 2017.”