Kasapa in `sakawa` sale…new management to be put in place by original owners
Being the first to capture the mobile telecommunication sector in Ghana, the now Kasapa Telecommunication Company has undergone series of ownership deals with off-shore telecommunication giants without going through the approved and legal means of acquisition. As a result of this purported action, the company is currently trailing behind other telecommunication companies in the country with the lowest subscription.
Kludjeson International Limited (KIL), the original owners of Kasapa, formerly Celtel Limited have been kept in total darkness about the transactions as the National Communication Authority (NCA), the regulatory body and the Registrar General's Department, the registrar of companies in the country are unaware of any new owners of the mobile telecommunication company, apart from KIL, who hold 100% shares of Kasapa Telecom Limited.
Hutchison Telecommunication Limited, an International giant in telecommunication industry based in Hong Kong had an agreement with KIL in respect of Celtel Limited, which later became Kasapa Telecommunication Limited. The agreement was however terminated, the Chronicle had learnt.
Subsequently, expatriate managers in the Ghanaian company have resigned but the Managing Director, Robert Norris Palitz is refusing to vacate his post. He is currently said to be sacked from the company, as KIL will soon put in place a new management to handle the affairs of the company.
In response to recent media reports that Kasapa Telecom Limited had been sold to another company in the Sudan, the Expresso Telecom Group, owned by the Sudan Telecommunications Company and expected soon to undertake a re-branding, Kasapa Telecom Limited noted that the company had not been sold.
In its reaction signed by the company Secretary, Mr. David Ogba on behalf of the Board of Directors of Kasapa Telecom Limited, the company said it had no agreement with Hutchison Whampoa Group, Certwell Limited or Kuwata Limited, “the agreement we had was with Hutchison Telecom Ltd., which terminated on July, 2008.”
According to the company, Hutchison Telecom/Certwell Limited ceased to have any business or relationship with it. “We also state for the record that Hutchison Telecom/Certwell Ltd. and Kuwata Ltd. are not members or shareholders of the Company,” the Mobile Telecommunication company emphasized.
The company pointed out that in view of the prevailing circumstances, the remaining original Director from Hutchison Telecom Limited, Mr. Ting Yu Chan and other individuals who are purportedly directors in the company, namely Dennis Pok Man Lui, Frank John Sixt and Lung Hein Ching have resigned from their positions.
Additionally, Kasapa Telecom Limited indicated that Robert Norris Palitz was removed by a special resolution of the company as his appointment as the purported Managing Director (MD) of the company was revoked. However, Bob Palitz still holds himself of the MD of the company.
It is in this regard that the Company Board had indicated that it will soon be announcing a new MD and management -“pending the conclusion of a Board audit of the falsification of company documents.”
According to the Company Board, the Fast Track High Court had ordered that Kasapa Telecom Limited should not be sold directly or indirectly, in or outside the country's jurisdiction, and further attracted a signed undertaking given by legal representatives of Hutchison at the court that it was not going to do anything to dispose off the shares in the company, or sell out the company.
The Board of Directors and Shareholders indicated that they have not approved any sale of the company to anyone as required by the Regulations of the Company, adding that the Mobile Telecommunication Company and its shareholders, KIL, had also not received US$75,000,000.00 from Expresso Telecom Group as indicated by media reports.
The company stated categorically that it has “no relationship with Expresso Telecom Group or EGH International Ltd,” as reported. The Company Board doubted if the government of Ghana through the Bank of Ghana and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has received Capital Gains Tax and foreign exchange inflows from the alleged sale of Kasapa Telecom Limited, which is a locally registered company. A letter in response to search request from the NCA, regarding the alleged sale of Kasapa Telecom Limited dated April 3, 2008, and May 26, 2009, state that “no information of any purported sale of the shares of Kasapa Telecom Limited, which sale would statutorily require the prior written consent of the Authority in order to be valid”.
It further noted that certified true copies of regulations and company records validated by the Registrar General's Department on September 25, 2008, and April 17, 2009, gave KIL as the sole member and shareholder of the 100% issued shares of Kasapa Telecom Limited and as such becomes a wholly-owned Ghanaian Company.
Kasapa Telecom Limited is, therefore, rejecting media reports that Kuwata Limited, EGH International Limited, Expresso Telecom Group Limited and Sudan Telecommunications Company are shareholders and members of the local telecommunication company.
“The Company also accepts no liability, if they have engaged in any unlawful act with any one who purports to have sold them the Company without proper due diligence, did so at their own risk,” Kasapa Telecom Limited stressed.