A
High Court in Kumasi has ordered Unicom Commodities Limited to pay GH¢1,200,000
and additional GH¢40,000 as cost to Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited for
defamation.
Nyonkopa,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Barry Callebaut, sued Unicom which is part of the ECOM
Group in 2017, after it complained that
its rival had defamed it and sought GH¢2,000,000 as general damages.
There
is currently a legal tussle over how the fine should be paid following a
complex appeal process involving the two licensed cocoa buyers in the country.
In
February 2017, Nyonkopa Cocoa instituted a suit in a Commercial Court in Kumasi
against Unicom Commodities and one Abdul Rahman claiming GH¢2,000,000 as
general damages for deliberately misleading the police to cause the impounding
of their truck loaded with bags of cocoa beans graded and uniquely coded,
including a waybill and a Quality Control Certificate (QCC).
According
to Nyonkopa Cocoa, the arrest and detention of their truck denigrated the
company and, therefore, claimed for an order of perpetual injunction against
Unicom Commodities and its assigns from further making such malicious act of
misleading the police to frustrate their legal activities.
After
two years of trial, the court ordered Unicom Commodities to pay GH¢1.2 million
to Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Ltd. as general damages and a cost of GH¢40,000 for
defamation.
The
trial court also ordered Nyonkopa to refund GH¢71,000 being the cash value of
150 bags of cocoa beans to Unicom Commodities following a counter-claim.
Unicom
Commodities then appealed against the judgment and when Nyonkopa Cocoa tried to
enforce the judgment, Unicom Commodities filed for a stay of execution at the trial
court pending the appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Unicom
Commodities application for stay of execution was first substantially granted
by the High Court, Commercial Division but the court also said it had to pay
GH¢500,000 to Nyonkopa Cocoa, pending the determination of the appeal by the
Court of Appeal.
Dissatisfied
with the said substantial grant, Unicom Commodities repeated the application
for stay of execution at the Court of Appeal which unanimously dismissed it as
unmeritorious.
Although
the said appeal is still pending, Unicom Commodities, according to Nyonkopa
Cocoa, is under legal and equitable obligation to pay Nyonkopa Cocoa a total of
GH¢1,240,000 being the entire judgment debt imposed by the High Court unless
the Court of Appeal quashes that decision.
Basic Facts
Around
30th December 2016, Nyonkopa Cocoa, as part of its obligations to COCOBOD,
evacuated 600 bags of graded, bagged and sealed cocoa beans, with a unique
coding and waybill. They were certified by Quality Control Company (QCC) in its
own name from its warehouse at Asumura, Goaso, in the then Brong Ahafo Region which
was under the management of its District Manager, Abdul Rahmani Mahama. The
said secondary evacuation was bound for Kaase Port in Kumasi in the Ashanti
Region.
The
next day, Unicom Commodities caused the impounding of the said truck en route
to Kaase Port by the Ashanti Regional Police Command for alleged stealing of
600 bags of cocoa beans by Nyonkopa, with the connivance of the said Abdul
Rahmani Mahama.
After
investigations had concluded, the said Police Command issued a report exonerating
Nyonkopa Cocoa of any wrong doing and that has triggered the instant court
action.
