Indian businessman sues Immigration boss for contempt of court

The legal battle between an Indian businessman, Mr Ashok Kumar Sivaram, and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), has taken a new twist with the businessman suing the Comptroller-General of the GIS, Mr Kwame Takyi, for contempt of court.

In his application for Mr Takyi to be committed for contempt of court, the businessman claims that the immigration boss had failed to restore his (Sivaram) residence and work permits as ordered by the Accra High Court.

On September 18, 2017, the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Naa Adoley Azu, gave Mr Takyi a seven-day ultimatum to restore the businessman’s permits.

The order by the court was on the basis that Mr Sivaram’s deportation on June 1, 2017 by the GIS was quashed by another High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Kweku T. Ackaah-Boafo, on July 31, 2017,

Alleged failure

Mr Sivaram averred in his application that Mr Takyi had “willfully failed’’ to comply with the order of the court despite the fact that the order was “valid, clear and unambiguous.’’

“The respondent (Takyi) knows the full force and effect of the court orders and thus his decision not to restore my residence and work permits as ordered by the court within seven days is a deliberate and wilful attempt to undermine the authority of the High Court,’’ it said.

Stay of execution

The businessman filed his application for contempt of court the same day the High Court dismissed an application by Mr Takyi for the execution of the September 18, 2017 decision to be put on hold pending an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Mrs Justice Azu held that if the stay of execution application was granted, the businessman would suffer undue hardship as he would be under the mercy of the GIS with the threat of a deportation.

Background

Mr Sivaram sued Mr Takyi and the Interior Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery, after he was deported by the GIS on June 1, 2017 following a deportation order signed by the Interior Minister on May 15, 2017.

Per the deportation order, the businessman had allegedly used a fake marriage certificate to support his application for citizenship.

On July 31, 2017, the deportation order was quashed by the High Court on the basis that it had breached the rules of natural justice. Since then, the matter had culminated in a series of legal tussles.

It has even reached the corridors of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo after Mr Sivaram petitioned the President over what he claimed to be a deliberate attempt by Mr Dery and Mr Takyi to deport him to aid his business partner to take over his business interests in the country.

The GIS has, however, refuted Mr Sivaram’s claims, explaining that neither the service nor Mr Dery has any interest in his feud with his business partner, which is a matter of litigation.