Sottie drags Appiah-Ofori to court

January 10, 2008 (Second Lead Story)

THE Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Christian Tetteh Sottie, has filed a GH¢500,000 libel suit against Mr P.C. Appiah-Ofori, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa.
Mr Sottie is praying the Accra Fast Track High Court to restrain Mr Appiah-Ofori and his agents from further publishing libellous materials against him (Mr Sottie).
The plaintiff is also praying the court to order Mr Appiah-Ofori to retract all the defamatory materials he caused to be published in the media between September and December 2007, apologise for the wrongful accusations, as well as an order for costs as the court may deem fit.
A statement of claim accompanying the writ of summons, which was filed on January 8, 2008 on behalf of Mr Sottie by Sam Okudzeto and Associates, legal practitioners, said Mr Appiah-Ofori, on September 21, 2007, granted a live interview on Citi FM, a private radio station, during which he falsely and maliciously accused Mr Sottie of committing fraud.
The interview also created the impression that Mr Sottie had added ghost names to the payroll so that he could embezzle the proceeds later.
According to the statement of claim, Mr Appiah-Ofori again granted similar interviews to Atlantic Radio, Hot FM and Oman FM radio stations accusing Mr Sottie of using ‘ghost’ invoices to embezzle state funds.
It further averred that Mr Appiah-Ofori, on October 26, 2007, wrote to the Council of State accusing Mr Sottie of fraud, dishonesty and dishonourable conduct.
It said the letter, which received wide media coverage, also accused the Controller and Accountant-General of inserting ghost names in the government payroll to loot state resources and for that matter Mr Sottie was unfit to remain in office.
The statement of claim further averred that Mr Appiah-Ofori created the impression that Mr Sottie was incompetent in his profession as a Certified Accountant, in his office as Accountant-General, among others.
It said the publications had injured Mr Sottie’s credibility and reputation and had brought him to public scandal, odium and contempt among his peers, officers, family members and the society at large.
He had also suffered damage as a result of the publications and, accordingly, prayed the court to grant his relief.