Allegations over visa racketeering; Former athletics chief drags coach to court
A former chief of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA), George Haldane Lutterodt, has instituted a GH¢5,000,000.00 law suit against Dr. Andrew Owusu, a coach of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA), for deliberate defamation and slander.
Advertisement
The ex-parte motion and writ of summons to the Fast Track High Court by the lawyer of the plaintiff , Geoffrey Quist, on behalf of Mr Lutterodt and sighted by the Graphic Sports, yesterday notified the defendant, who is domiciled in ST.Mulfreesboro, Tennesse, USA, about the particulars of the defamation to be served on him in the US.
It noted that the defendant, Dr Andrew Owusu, on October 25, 2014, granted an interview to an Accra- based FM station, Radio Gold, where he accused Mr Lutterodt of being complicit in a huge visa racketeering scandal when he was the Chairman of the Ghana Athletics Association.
Mr Andrew Owusu was also alleged to have told the FM station that, Mr Lutterodt habitually insulted athletes in the country and had no selection criteria for the national athletes which always resulted in fights and petty feuds.
The radio interview which took place prior to the keenly contested chairmanship position of the GAA and the election of other new executives late last year, was believed to have contributed to the defeat of the plaintiff, who lost by just three votes.
According to the plaintiff despite several suggestions to the defendant that such malicious allegations to damage his reputation were not the case, the defendant stood by his words and vowed to provide evidence.
Mr Lutterodt was the athletics chief from November 2001 to September 2004, while Dr Owusu was an athlete and a student based in the United States of America.
He was a former national athlete in triple jump and long jump.
