Tema Oil Refinery has taken African Automobile Limited to court and have accused them of fraud
The Plaintiff (TOR) is also seeking damages and costs against AAL.
It would be recalled that at three different levels of the courts – from the High Court in 2008, to the Court of Appeal in 2010 and finally to the Supreme Court in 2011, presiding judges slammed managers of TOR for recklessly breaching a 2002 contract with African Automobile Limited to supply marine mix for the manufacture of pre-mix fuel for using by fishing outboard motors.
AAL were to make four deliveries of marine mix of 600,000 litres to TOR. The company made three deliveries all of which were paid for but could not make the fourth because the then MD of TOR, KK Sarpong wanted to vary the agreed price for each litre of marine mix, a proposition rejected by AAL.
After failing to settle the matter amicably, AAL proceeded to court in 2008 and got a judgment of €945,000 in their favour at the High Court.
The judgment was appealed by the Attorney General which got the amount reduced by nearly €500,000.
Not completely satisfied with the Appeals Court decision, the Attorney General again proceeded to the Supreme Court to attempt to set aside the verdicts by the lower courts but the highest court upheld the decision by the Appeals Court.
On review the Supreme Court again upheld its earlier decision and recommended that TOR and its top managers be condemned.
Portions of the judgement read “...Indeed, if businesses are to be conducted as was done by the defendant company, TOR in this case, then all businesses will collapse and ran into serious debt…We believe the time has indeed come for state officials to be surcharged with such colossal losses if it can be established, as it has, in this case that the losses were occasioned by their recklessness.”
But speaking to the media on the issue, Counsel for TOR, Agyabeng Akrasi, posited that his client is unhappy with the decision arrived at by the Supreme Court judges during review and has begun a whole new process at the High Court to repossess their money claiming AAL secured the verdicts at the High Court; Appeals Court the Supreme Court through “fraud and dishonesty” process.
The Plaintiff avers in the new writ there was never the consignment of 600,000 litres of marine mix produced to their specification and which did not meet the obligations set out in the contract.
“AAL deliberately misrepresented to the courts that it imported an entire consignment of 600,000 litres of marine mix (soon after winning the contract in 2002) when the defendant knew that that was false because at 16 October, 2006 it openly declared that its overseas suppliers still held 354,000 litres of the subject matter of the contract,” the plaintiff claims in the writ.
TOR is praying the court will grant their requests.
Meanwhile, AAL has in its statement of defence, denied the accusations of fraud levelled against them by the oil refinery company.
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