Okumkom’s case adjourned

Kumasi, Aug. 22, GNA - A circuit court in Kumasi on Monday adjourned to September 20, the case in which a trader has dragged Nana Akwasi Agyemang, former Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) before it for allegedly defrauding him. The adjournment followed an application filed by counsel for Nana Akwasi Agyemang. Mr Samuel Amankwaah Yeboah is claiming 40 million cedis from Nana Akwasi Agyemang being money he allegedly paid to him for the allocation of a store at the European Market, near the ministries in Kumasi. When the case was called, neither Nana Akwasi Agyemang nor his counsel was present in court. A writ filed by Mr Yeboah, is seeking an order of the court for the refund of the amount with interest at the current bank rate from February 1, 2002 till the date of final payment. In addition, the writ is seeking an order for the payment of the sum of five million cedis the plaintiff gave to a contractor for work on the store and claims for cost. A statement of claim accompanying the writ said the plaintiff, who resides in Kumasi, in January 2002, needed a store to carry out his trade and was introduced to the defendant by their mutual friend, one Kwame Nkrumah. The statement said the defendant represented to the plaintiff that he had a store to let to him at the European Market at Adum, the hub of commercial activities in Kumasi and demanded 30 million cedis, which the plaintiff paid but was issued with no receipt. It said after three months, the defendant told the plaintiff that there was a very high demand for the store and therefore demanded an additional 10 million cedis, which the latter paid, adding that both payments were made in the presence of the said Kwame Nkrumah, who always received, counted and gave the money to the defendant.
The statement said the defendant took the plaintiff to the store after the payment in the company of one Rosemary, a trader at Roman Hill, Lokko, the driver of the defendant and Mr Agyei, the contractor working on the store and that they could not get the keys to the store and so he (the defendant) broke the door and ushered in the plaintiff and those accompanying them.
The statement said the defendant requested the contractor to carry out the outstanding work on the store for him and for which the contractor charged plaintiff nine million cedis, out of which plaintiff made a part payment of five million cedis.
It said before the contractor could complete the work, authorities of the KMA told him to stop since the defendant had no capacity to let the store as title to the store was vested in the KMA. When the plaintiff told the defendant of the development, the statement said he told him to exercise patience, as he would speak to Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the then KMA Chief Executive.
The statement said the defendant had since then told the plaintiff one story or the other and had failed to refund his money to him despite repeated demands.
In a statement of defence, Nana Agyemang denied the charges and said he did not offer a store to the plaintiff as it was owned by the KMA since in 2002, he had long ceased to be the Metropolitan Chief Executive.
It said during his tenure as the Metropolitan Chief Executive, all those who applied for stores were made to pay to the Assembly through banks and that he never handled such monies.