Court orders remand of J. B. Plaza MD

Monday, March 9, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

THE Financial Division of the High Court in Accra has remanded Mr Kojo Bekoe, the chairman of JB Plaza Limited, a real estate company, in the Nsawam Prison until he fulfils his bail bond in a GH¢500,000 suit filed against him by an Accra-based businesswoman.
The businesswoman, Madam Darling Tuffour, filed a writ praying the court to order Mr Bekoe and his company, J. B. Plaza Limited in Accra, to pay his GH¢500,000 indebtedness and accruing interest on it.
Madam Tuffour is also praying the court to award general damages for breach of contract, as well as award costs against the defendant.
She later filed an ex-parte motion praying the court to issue an absconding warrant for the arrest of Mr Bekoe, who she argued was about to leave the country with the view of evading his obligations to the court.
The court granted her application and subsequently issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Mr Bekoe was arrested and granted bail in the sum of GH¢600,000 with one surety to be justified.
He was also ordered to deposit GH¢100,000 as guarantee before he could travel outside the country.
He, however, failed to fulfil the bail bond compelling Madam Tuffour to file another ex-parte motion with the explanation that the defendant was not in custody, although he had not fulfilled his bail bond.
She also stated that the police and bailiffs had other obligations and could not follow the defendant anywhere he went and therefore prayed the court to remand him in prison custody.
In the substantive writ, Madam Tuffour averred that sometime between 2005 and 2008 at the request of the defendants she advanced various sums of money both cash and cheques totalling GH¢500,000 to the defendants through Mr Bekoe to enable the company to invest in its real estate business.
The plaintiff said per the agreement entered into with the defendants, the defendants agreed to pay interest on the various sums of money received from the plaintiff at 20 per cent per month.
The plaintiff further averred that in pursuance of the agreement entered into with the defendants, she contracted various loans from her business associates to meet the financial demands of the defendants.
Madam Tuffour further stated that in response to her demand for payment, the defendants by a signed letter dated September 5, 2008 offered some of their properties at a discounted total value of GH¢500,000.00, the amount owed.
According to her, the defendants have failed, refused and or neglected to retire their indebtedness owed to the plaintiff despite repeated demands.
She added that she had suffered and continued to suffer loses as a result of the failure of the defendants to honour their debt obligations.