Sports News of Tuesday, 12 August 2014

Source: ghanasportsonline.com

New Edubiase FC fight wife of late David Lamptey for $150,000

Ghana Premier League side New Edubiase FC are set to embark on a protracted legal battle with the wife of the late financier of the club Mr. David Lamptey.

The two parties are expected to engage in a fierce legal battle over the alleged mysterious disappearance of $150,000 from the club's bank accounts after the death of the late bankroller.

The Bekwai-based club has therefore demanded from Mrs. Gifty Lamptey a refund of the amount after alleging that the monies were secretly transferred into the personal accounts of the late David Lamptey.

New Edubiase bagged US $750,000 from the sale of Mumuni Abubakar and Emmanuel Baffour to Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in 2012, the same year the club qualified for the CAF confederations cup.

Chief Executive of the club, Abdul Salam has revealed that the late David Lamptey ordered for parts of the monies from the transfers be kept, and be used to cover for the administrative expenses of the club during their African Confederations Cup campaign, but the monies were later transferred secretly from the club's accounts into the personal accounts of the late financier.

The CEO of the club has thus called on the wife of the late David Lamptey, Mrs Gifty Lamptey to refund the monies to the club or expect a legal suit from the administration of the club.

But Mrs Lamptey has rubbished the allegations insisting that she is unaware of the whereabout of the monies with claims that her late husband could have withdrawn the amount and spent on the club.

"I went and checked and they really paid into his said personal account but then in two days the money was withdrawn, So as I speak to you I don’t know if he withdrew the money and gave it to them because he was the one sponsoring New Edubiase and everybody can attest that he spent a lot of money on the club".

"I don’t have any fact to say whether they (New Edubiase) had collected the money back or not’, Gifty Lamptey told Takoradi-based Empire Fm.

"Everybody is saying David Lamptey owes him, it becomes a little embarrassing but then he was the best man all over the place. He was the one almost helping all of them. Now that he is dead everybody is saying he owes them. I can’t see where the truth lies",

Meanwhile, Chief Executive of Edubiase FC Abdul Salam Yakubu is alleging that Mrs. Lamptey has decided to 'hide' the money and is trying to cunningly use her political powers to conceal the $150,000 belonging to the club.

"We went to her several times, she asked the security not to allow us in and Archbishop Duncan Williams (a personal pastor to the late David Lamptey) even called her several times, she refused to pick his call", Abdul Salam said.

"This woman is trying to make things difficult for herself and will put herself into trouble because where it is trying to go, it will go far. She is a political person. She is a close friend to the late Professor Atta Mills' wife. She is a strong NDC person, if she tries to use her power, I don’t think it will be a good thing for her’,

David Lamptey, passed on to eternal glory in 2012. His company, Sidalco Limited, now headed by his wife is a pioneering market leader in liquid fertilizers in Ghana and has terminated its sponsorship of New Edubiase.