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29.11.2011 Regional News

Court orders reduction in petroluem prices

By Ghanaian Chronicle
Dr. Joe Otteng Adjei, Energy Ministerleft, Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng middle, Mr. Alex Mould, Chief Executive Office of TOR.rightDr. Joe Otteng Adjei, Energy Minister(left), Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng (middle), Mr. Alex Mould, Chief Executive Office of TOR.(right)
29.11.2011 LISTEN

An Accra High Court (Cocoa Affairs, Court 11) presided over by His Lordship Patrick Baayeh has handed down a heavy judgment on the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), in a case in which three plaintiffs accused the NPA and TOR of inflating fuel prices and using the money for purposes unknown to many Ghanaians.

The plaintiffs, Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng (the NPP parliamentary candidate for Obuasi), Mr. Abdul Ganiyu of Tamale and Development Data, filed a writ in court in September 2009 praying the court to abolish an illegal margin smuggled into the price build-up of Petroleum prices by the NPA.

Yesterday, the High Court upheld the case of the plaintiffs and ordered the NPA to remove the illegal margins disguised as ;ex-refinery differential' from the prices of petrol, kerosene, diesel, LPG and MGL local.

The illegal margins imposed on 5th June 2009 were as follows:

Fuel Illegal Price Additions
Diesel 95 GHp per gallon
Petrol 29 GHp per gallon
Kerosene 42 GHp per gallon
LPG gas 08 GHp per kilogram
MGO local 69 GHp per gallon
Per the ruling, the NPA are required to announce new fuel prices minus these margins. The High Court further ordered the NPA to publish in the total amount accrued from the imposition of the illegal margins in the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times within four (4) months from the date of the judgment, and pay the amount into the Consolidated Fund.

According to Development Data estimates, the amount accrued from the ex-refinery differential from 5th June 2009 and to 28th November 2011 (day of the judgement) comes to GH¢690 million.

A cost of five thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢5000) was awarded to plaintiffs.

Counsel for plaintiff was Lawyer Alex Abban, and that for the Defendants was Dr. Dominic Ayene.

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