July 21, 2008 (Page 55)
MR Richmond Aggrey, a businessman who has sued Scancom Ghana Limited, operators of MTN, over a shareholding dispute on Monday, July 14, 2008 stated that the removal of his name from the shareholding structure of the company was not “child’s play”.
He told the Commercial Court hearing the case that several incidents took place, including threats from former President J. J. Rawlings, prior to the illegal takeover of his 20 per cent shares in 1999.
The businessman has joined Investment Consortium Holdings, SA (Investcom), the majority shareholders of MTN, and Grandview Management to the suit over unlawful takeover of his 20 per cent shares in Scancom Ghana Limited.
Answering questions under cross-examination from counsel for Investcom, Mr Felix Ntrakwah, the plaintiff stated that he might have missed the date on which former President Rawlings openly threatened him on national television but the events leading to his losing his shares were what mattered.
Mr Ntrakwah had suggested to him that he (Mr Aggrey) had strategically lied to the court on the date on which he said former President Rawlings had made threatening remarks during the Emancipation Day celebration.
Mr Aggrey had earlier stated that he recorded former President Rawlings’s attack on his personality when President Rawlings had accused him of ripping Nigerians off their money and returning home to Ghana with the same intention, saying those threats and others resulted in him transferring his shares to his cousin, Mr Chris Wilmot, in order to save the company from collapse.
The plaintiff had said former President Rawlings made those remarks in front of members of the Diplomatic Corps, chiefs, Africans and African-Americans in the Diaspora, foreign dignitaries and members of the public on state television on Emancipation Day in the first week of August 1999.
However, it emerged through a Daily Graphic publication dated August 1, 1998 that the event took place from July 25 to August 2, 1998 and not in the first week of August 1999.
Rebutting claims by Mr Ntrakwah that he had come to the court to tell lies, Mr Aggrey said he was happy the actual time of the event had been provided because the then Minister of Tourism had informed him that the event took place in 1999 when he (Mr Aggrey) had enquired for the date.
The following transpired between Mr Ntrakwah and Mr Aggrey:
Mr Ntrakwah: You are strategically lying to this court.
Mr Aggrey: I do not understand what you mean unless you are telling me my name was not mentioned in that recording.
Mr Ntrakwah: You have done this to deceive this honourable court. You have woven a story around a 1998 event in order to deceive this court.
Mr Aggrey: I do not agree. Several events, including phone calls, board meetings, etc eventually made me transfer my shares. The time line is another matter.
According to Mr Aggrey, the events leading to his transfer of shares happened 12 years ago and it was, therefore, not strange for him to have missed dates.
He said what was important were the issues at stake and the fact that his shares had been taken away illegally, noting that in any case the threats from the former President and other related matters took place before 1999 when he transferred his shares in the interest of the company.
He, nevertheless, apologised to the court for mixing up the date of the Emancipation Day celebration.
Hearing continues on Thursday, July 24, 2008.
Mr Aggrey began giving evidence on April 28, 2008, following the non-attainment of a settlement between him and the three defendants at a pre-trial conference under commercial court rules, resulting in the matter being referred for trial.
The plaintiff sued Investcom, the majority shareholder in Scancom, and Grandview when Scancom decided to engage in a merger deal with MTN Incorporated of South Africa.
The deal has, however, been concluded, following the transfer of all shares in Scancom to MTN.
That was after a High Court order on July 14, 2006 which restrained Scancom and other respondents from "continuing, progressing and or concluding the merger with and/or acquisition of Investment Consortium Holdings by MTN, without taking into account and/or providing for the plaintiff's 20 per cent shares in Scancom Limited".
The closure of the acquisition, according to Mr Aggrey, would occasion the loss of his shareholding in the company by reason of the accrual of the rights of the MTN Group as a third party.
Mr Aggrey's contention was that his name had been removed from the shareholders list of Scancom without any explanation, adding that the particulars of the directors and shareholders of Scancom obtained from the Registrar General's Department, dated June 2, 2006, and signed by Mr K.A. Ohene-Obeng, a Chief State Attorney, for the Registrar of Companies, showed that Mr Aggrey's name was not included in the shareholders list.
It said the onus was on the company to explain how Mr Aggrey ceased to be a shareholder.
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