Court throws out Duncan Amoah in BOST defamation case but…

[L-R] Duncan Amoah of COPEC and Mr. Alfred Boateng, MD of BOST[/caption]An Accra High Court has rejected an application filed by Executive Secretary of COPEC Duncan Amoah asking it to dismiss a defamation case against him. The Managing Director for the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), Alfred Obeng dragged Duncan Amoah to court demanding an amount of 5 million cedis as damages for soiling his reputation. The COPEC boss had alleged that persons connected to the BOST MD had threatened him after he uncovered a supposed shady deal at BOST which is believed to have cost the nation 23 million cedis in revenue. Lawyers for Duncan Amoah led by Martin Kpebu made an application to the court asking that the suit be dismissed because it was fraught with mistakes. They had argued that the BOST MD had also failed to provide his residential and professional address in the case filed at the court. but Justice Gifty Dekyem in her ruling said failure to provide the addresses as stated by the CPOEC boss in his case, does not breach any provision in the Constitution of Ghana. She noted however, that the said mistakes only amounted to an irregularity which should not result in nullity. Justice Dekyem therefore gave the BOST MD, Alfred Obeng 14 days to amend the writ. The Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah said he is delighted over the court’s decision for corrections to be made although their request for the case to be dismissed was not granted. “We applied that the entire matter be thrown out completely, but in the wisdom of the court he has been given some two weeks to make corrections in his suit and return to the court. So for us, it is good news because at least the mistakes there will not be allowed to stand, and this is good for me,” Duncan Amoah told TV3’s Selorm Amenyah on Thursday. According to Duncan Amoah, he is hopeful that the truth of the matter at hand will be vindicated forever. “The tax payer’s money will have to be protected because, the President himself has said that we should be citizens not spectators; and so, we will continue to play that role.” The Executive Secretary of COPEC also noted that he had not received any threat on his life since the court began hearing the case between him and the BOST MD. He added that officials of the National Security and the Ghana Police Service have been protecting him since he made reports about threats on his life. Read also: BOST MD chases Duncan Amoah for GHC5m over ‘death threats’ By 3news.com| Ghana]]>