I didn't resign from Scancom willingly * Richmond Aggrey tells court

Thursday, April 23, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

THE businessman who has sued Scancom Ghana Limited and two others over a shareholding dispute yesterday told the Commercial Court in Accra that he did not resign from Scancom on his own volition.
Mr Richmond Aggrey said he resigned to safeguard the company from collapse following former President J. J. Rawlings’s dislike for him.
According to him, he did not intend to dispose of his shares when he resigned from Scancom.
Mr Aggrey has sued Scancom, Investment Consortium Holdings, SA (Investcom) and Grandview Management Inc. of Texas for illegally taking over his 20-per cent shares in Scancom.
He instituted legal action in 2006 against the defendants but Grandview Management, which held Mr Aggrey’s shares in trust until the takeover by Investcom and Scancom, has maintained that it was not party to the takeover of the shares and has since then argued in favour of Mr Aggrey.
Answering questions under cross-examination from the counsel for Scancom, Mr Benson Nutsukpui, the plaintiff told the court that he approached several personalities including the then Vice-President and now President J. E. A. Mills to intercede on his behalf so he could stay on at Scancom.
Mr Aggrey, who is also a former Vice-Chairman and Board member of Scancom, said he had told his intercessors to explain to former President Rawlings that he (Mr Aggrey) meant well for the country.
According to Mr Aggrey, then Vice-President Mills advised him (Mr Aggrey) to put his plea into writing, which he did.
He further explained that despite his numerous pleas and that of his intercessors, former President Rawlings did not take kindly to his staying on at Scancom and therefore he had to eventually resign to save Scancom from collapse.
He said he was then more than a non-executive director of Scancom because he often worked till midnight in the interest of the company when the counsel suggested to him that he was only a non-executive director.
Hearing was adjourned to June 4, 2009.
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 his name was not included in the shareholders’ list.
He said the onus was on the company to explain how he ceased to be a shareholder.