Bring your lawyer and relevant documents.....Justice Apau orders Adabo
The Sole Commissioner of the Judgement Debt Commission (JDC), Justice Yaw Apau, has ordered the man at the centre of an alleged fraudulent re-acquisition of Subin Timbers Company, Reverend Daniel Opoku-Adabo, to bring his lawyer and relevant documents to the commission next Thursday.
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This was after Rev. Opoku-Adabo had appeared before the commission yesterday but failed to provide satisfactory answers to the questions posed to him.
He told the commission that following his appearance before the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), he was provided with documents by the Attorney-General’s Department which his lawyer took to court to effect the de-confiscation of Subin Timbers.
But the sole commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, found that to be inconsistent with the normal process involved in de-confiscation and therefore, asked him to produce documents to substantiate his submission.
‘Come with your lawyer’
Justice Apau also told him that he wanted him to come along with his lawyer since the matters involved were of a technical nature and he might not be able to provide satisfactory answers.
Rev. Opoku-Adabo told the Daily Graphic after the sitting that he had petitioned to appear before the JDC to set the records straight with regard to some misrepresentations the Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), Mr Assakua Agambila, had made when he appeared before the commission on Thursday, August 8, 2014.
When Mr Assakua Agambila appeared before the JDC, he called on the Attorney-General (A-G) to institute criminal action against Rev. Opoku-Adabo for fraudulent misrepresentation that enabled him and his family to sell the assets of a divested timber company.
Fraud
“We stand on very firm grounds in making this allegation of fraud. It is amazing that the fraud passed through CHRAJ, the Attorney General’s Department, the National Reconciliation Commission and even the Presidency,” Mr Assakua Agambila had said.
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Subin Timbers Limited was confiscated in 1982 as a result of a number of malpractices, including tax evasion.
The company was later amalgamated with another confiscated company – Central Logging and Saw Milling Company – to form the Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC).
He said in 2000, the WVLC came up for divestiture and received approval of the DIC in 2006 and subsequently obtained presidential authorisation as required by law in 2007.
The divestiture included all assets of the WVLC. The DIC made an offer of $3.5 million to the investor. The investor made part payment as stipulated in the terms, and was given the right of entry.
The right of entry permitted the new owner of the company to begin operations, while it (the company) made efforts to pay the remaining amount.
He said before the divestiture process began in 2000, a certain Mr Kwofie petitioned CHRAJ that he was the owner of Subin Timbers Limited, which had been confiscated, and wanted his company back.
He said in the same year, CHRAJ, after considering the petition, forwarded it to the Confiscated Assets Committee (CAC).
He said CHRAJ might have found merit in the petition, hence its decision to forward it to the CAC. Following this, the Attorney General, in 2001, also found merit in the petition and forwarded it to the ARC, which decides which assets confiscated by the state can be restored to their owners.
The ARC, Mr Agambila said, then awarded the petitioner GH¢543,000 which was rejected by the petitioner.
He said after turning down the offer, Mr Kwofie again petitioned the NRC, which was hearing cases of injustice committed against some individuals by successive governments.
He said, subsequently, Mr Kwofie passed away and Rev.Adabo appeared before the NRC to lay claims to Subin Timbers.
He, however, said information the DIC gathered from the Registrar General’s Department indicated that Subin Timbers was not owned by Mr Kwofie but rather, he was appointed a director at a point before the company was confiscated.
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He said the NRC considered that the petitioner had a good case and on that basis, in 2008, the A-G wrote to the DIC that the NRC had de-confiscated assets of Subin Timbers Limited and that it should be returned to its owners.
Subin Timbers de-confiscated
According to him, in 2008, the office of the President, in a letter dated December 15, 2008, signed on behalf of President Kufuor and copied to the DIC, informed Mr Kwofie that his company had been de-confiscated so it should be handed back to him.
“The interesting thing is that it was the same Presidency that had approved the divestiture of the company and it was the same Presidency that was ordering that the company which was then part of another company be handed back,” Mr Agambila said.
Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh
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