I’m yet to be served with SML suit – Manasseh Awuni

Lead investigative journalist in the Fourth Estate’s ‘The GHC3 billion Lie Documentary”, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has said that he is yet to be served with the defamatory suit filed by Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML).

The documentary accused SML of entering into a dubious 10-year contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

The Ministry of Finance and GRA contracted SML to track, report accurately, and monitor activities in the upstream petroleum sector to avoid revenue losses to the government.

However, President Akufo-Addo, on January 2, directed GRA and the Finance Ministry to suspend the contract with SML following the release of the documentary.

The President further appointed a private audit firm, KPMG, to audit the contract entered into between GRA and SML.

SML announced on February 15, 2024, that it had commenced a legal process against the Fourth Estate and Manasseh Azure over what it described as “defamatory and reckless” reports.

The company said it was pursuing a total of GHC10 million in damages.

But the former editor-in-chief at the Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure, revealed in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight that he has not been served with the court process yet.

“I am yet to be served, I have heard that we have been sued, which for me is normal because, in my work as a journalist, this is not the first time I have been sued for defamation. Before this SML suit was announced, I’m yet to be served anyway, I had been sued eight times for defamation since 2015.

He continued, “Out of those eight suits, seven of them abandoned or ran away from their cases when I filed my defense. So, only one of them went to trial. They have the right to go to court, I have the right to defend myself because I still believe in the issues that we reported in that investigative piece.”

“So, when I’m served, my lawyers will respond accordingly,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, the accounting and auditing firm KPMG submitted its final report to the President on March 27.

The Presidency, in response to an open letter from Prof. Ransford Gyampo, said the President is currently “studying the report” and will communicate its response to the public in due course.