STX Thrown Out

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By Samuel Boadi & William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 22, 2011.
IT IS yet to be established whether STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited has relocated its offices from the plush Airport residential area in Accra or not but DAILY GUIDE can confidently say that the troubled company has been thrown out of the building housing it even as the company suffered another setback in court yesterday.

The attempt by beleaguered Chief Executive Officer of the company, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah to sack the Korean counterparts from the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country failed.
This is because the Commercial Court C in Accra handling the case dismissed Mr. Asamoah’s action asking the court to kick out the Koreans to pave way for the construction of the housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

Ever since President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011for the commencement of the project board room wrangling between the Ghanaian and their Korean partners has ensured that not a single block has been laid.

The court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed BK Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that Mr Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 if the partner had been involved in illegal conduct but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

Mr Asamoah had indicated he was ready to bay out his Korean counterparts and the court allowed the parties time to settle the terms and report to it.

However, both parties came back to court announcing that the settlement had broken down.

The judge then asked the plaintiff to move the motion after which the defendants responded.

The judge delivered her ruling describing the application as “incompetent.”

On Tuesday, close to lunchtime, when DAILY GUIDE passed by the offices of the company, about four men were busily seen pasting a bold inscription which read “House For Rent” in red ink on its gates.

In the process, the security personnel manning the two gates of the company looked on sheepishly without any attempt to intercept the unfolding action.

Efforts to reach Mr. Asamoah, via phone, did not succeed as his phone was inaccessible.

Mr. Asamoah is alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady recently over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he is said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use.

The foregoing developments appear to be giving a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently is.

The five-member board of STX in November pasted an unsigned notice which claimed that the Ghanaian head of STX Ghana, BK Asamoah had been relieved of his duties.

But Mr. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post.

This took place a few weeks after the Korean partners dragged B.K. Asamoah to court and accused him of falsifying certain corporate documents and also unlawfully reconstituting the board.

In the suit of the Koreans, they noted that on May 16, 2011, Mr. Asamoah, who is also owner of G.K. Airports Company Limited, and J. B. Asafo-Boakye filed a special resolution claiming to surrender all the stated shares of STX Construction Company Limited to G.K. Airports Company Limited.

However, the plaintiffs argued that such an action could not stand in law because the Koreans were still part of the company.

The GK Airports suit was against STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul, which was thrown out yesterday.