An Accra High Court has ordered the immediate defreezing of assets of the Managing Director of Construction Giant, Gbewaa Civil Engineers, which were arbitrarily frozen by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The assets worth several billions of cedis were frozen by the SFO in respect of charges of fraud brought against the director, Yakubu Adam Kasule, over some insurance claims amounting to ?286 million from State Insurance Company.

The said insurance claim was made in respect of shipment of spare parts by a foreign company called Kolon (UK) to the Department of Feeder Roads in Ghana.

The court presided over by Justice Yaw Appau dismissed an application filed by the SFO, seeking to justify its act of freezing the entire assets of Mr Kasule. According to the court, the SFO has not exhibited enough reasons to justify a grant to their application.

In a letter dated October 24, this year, the SFO informed Mr Kasule of the freezing of all his assets, stocks, shares, bank accounts, claiming that its investigations had found him to have fraudulently appropriated state funds in the course of transacting business with some government agencies. The assets frozen by the SFO included stocks in companies, Airport West House Hotel under construction, a house each at Dzorwulu, East Legon, Ofankor, Dansoman, Teshie Nungua all in Accra, a guest House in Tamale, two houses at Tesano, a house in the UK as well as a BMW 4-wheel drive car.

Counsel for Kasule, argued that the assets frozen by the SFO were much more than the debts owed by his client and for that matter the SFO had no right in freezing all the assets.