Texas court throws out Scancom's motion

Monday, April 20, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

THE District Court in Texas has thrown out a motion which prayed it to temporarily restrain the businessman who has sued Scancom Ghana Limited, operators of MTN, over his 20 per cent shares and three others from pursuing an action in Ghana.
On September 18, 2008, Investment Consortium Holdings, SA (Investcom), the majority shareholders of MTN and Scancom Ghana Limited, prayed the court to stop the businessman, Mr Richmond Aggrey, Mr Christian C. Wilmot of WCW International Inc and Grandview Management Limited from pursuing an action in Accra which they said had the potential of preventing them (Investcom and Scancom) from seeking arbitration in the shareholding dispute.
However, Mr Aggrey, on October 15, 2009, filed a motion praying the Texas court to dismiss the action of Investcom and Scancom on the grounds that they had failed to establish how they would suffer irreparable loss if the injunction was not granted.
Additionally, Grandview Management filed another motion at the High Court in Accra, praying the court to restrain Investcom and Scancom from further pursuing the action at the Texas court.
Grandview's motion has been fixed for hearing at the Commercial Court in Accra today.
An order signed by Mr Justice David Hittner, a copy of which is available to the Daily Graphic, said, “In fact, the plaintiffs (Investcom and Scancom) presented no evidence that the Ghana court lacks jurisdiction to grant all reliefs sought in this suit by Investcom and Scancom against Grandview, Mr Wilmot of WCW International and Mr Aggrey.”
According to the court, the plaintiffs had failed to show that an injunction order restraining them from pursuing the action at the Texas court was imminent “or that plaintiffs would be precluded from appealing any such decision of the Ghana Court”.
The Texas court further held that all the material witnesses resided in Ghana, while the relevant documents were located in Ghana.
It stated that it had found from the evidence available that "the threatened injury to the defendants (Mr Aggrey, Mr Wilmot, WCW International and Grandview Management) far outweighs any threatened injury to the plaintiffs (Investcom and Scancom)”, adding that it would, therefore, not entertain the arguments from the defendants.
In the substantive matter in Accra, Mr Aggrey has sued Investcom, Scancom and Grandview Management over unlawful take-over of his 20 per cent shares in Scancom Ghana Limited.
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.
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.