Betty Strikes! ...Sues 16

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

Angry! Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu with her lawyers at a news conference

By William Yaw Owusu

Accra, Wednesday September 16, 2012.

FORMER ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Betty Mould-Idrissu is on warpath with some personalities and media outlets for allegedly defaming her.

According to Mrs. Mould-Idrissu who was also a former Minister of Education, 16 defendants published or circulated articles purporting that she had bought three houses in the UK, a claim she deems libelous.

She has therefore filed a suit at an Accra Fast Track High Court asking for aggravated damages of GH¢ 2,000,000 and an order to restrain the defendants from further publishing “falsehood” about her.

The suit filed by her solicitors Chris King Esq. of Heward Mills and Co. on Thursday September 20, cites Ken Ofori Atta and Keli Gadzepko as owners of The Statesman Newspaper as well as Asare Otchere-Darko –Editor-in-chief, Frank Agyei-Twum – Editor, and Annaliza Agyare – General Manager, all of The Statesman Newspaper and the newspaper itself.

Also, the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), Abu Ramadan – Director of Operations of AFAG, DAILY GUIDE, Ghana Web and Francis Akoto are all cited.

The rest are: Robert Bellart, OMG Ghana, BiGX Group LLC, Kwadwo Ofori-Mensah and a certain Paa Kwesi.

In her statement of claim, Mrs. Mould-Idrissu who averred that she is a lawyer of “international repute” said that on June 12, 2012, the Ghanaweb published that “Ex-Minister buys 3 Houses in the UK” and that article was referring to her.

According to the plaintiff “this article was sourced to a fictitious and non-existent newspaper as part as the mischievous and malicious intent by the defendants to defame the plaintiff and smear her reputation.”

Mrs. Mould-Idrissu said that in their natural and ordinary meaning the words meant and were understood to mean that she had stolen monies belonging to Ghana and “surreptitiously deposited them in a bank account in the UK.”

She said the publications also meant that “the plaintiff had bought 3 houses through ill gotten monies and fraudulent means. Plaintiff had dealings with one Dr. Kumar as part of a ploy to siphon ill gotten monies. Plaintiff had been involved in conduct igniting investigations from a British Serious Organised Crime Agency.”

“The allegations made by the defendant in the said article are wholly false and without any justification whatsoever,” Mrs. Idrissu fumed.

According to the statement of claim the plaintiff in denial of the allegations caused her lawyer Nana Ato Dadzie to issue a rebuttal but in spite of the rebuttal, the defendants  “in defiance and deviance of same caused further defamatory words to be published I aggravation of the already caused to and sustained by the plaintiff’s reputation.”

To prove a point, Mrs. Mould-Idrissu averred that on Saturday June 16, 2012, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe Jr. Ph.D caused to be published on Ghanaweb an article titled: “Nana Ato Dadzie is a liability for Betty Mould.”

She claimed that the article in their natural and ordinary meaning were understood to mean that “The plaintiff had stolen Ghanaian taxpayer’s monies and stashed illicit monies abroad.”

The plaintiff further claimed that on June 13, 2012 the Statesman newspaper that published that she had bought three houses in different locations in the UK as well as deposited 1.042 million pounds in her Barclays Bank UK private account between November 2011 and May 2012 and in the said article, AFAG and its Operations Director Abu Ramadan had called for a probe into the matter.

“In their natural and ordinary meaning the words meant and were understood to mean that the plaintiff as a high ranking political figure in high office of the government of Ghana had unlawfully amassed wealth and inputedly embezzled state funds.”

 The claim said “The plaintiff aggrieved by these ill motivated and malicious lies caused her lawyer to carry out an official search of the land registry in England and Wales on the properties that the false publications alleged she had purchased. The search proves that there is not an iota of truth or justification in the malicious and false publications by the defendants.”

The plaintiff said she neither owns nor operates a Barclays Bank account in the UK or elsewhere as alleged and said the publication was “false and malicious.”

“The publication of the words complained of have gravely injured the reputation of the plaintiff, has exposed her to public scandal and contempt and caused her embarrassment and distress.”

She also said by reason of the said publication by the defendants she had been “severely injured in her personal and international professional reputation and standing in the international professional legal and governance community.”

“By of the publications and the consequent loss of reputation in the international professional legal and political community, the plaintiff has lost opportunities and her future professional prospects have been diminished.”

Apart from damages and restraining order sought, the plaintiff is also asking for costs, interest on the damages awarded at the prevailing bank rate of judgement till date of final payment as well as any other reliefs or order that the court the court might deem fit.

The defendants are yet to respond to the suit but it is interesting to note that even though DAILY GUIDE was cited in the suit, there was nowhere in the averments of Mrs. Mould-Idrissu that the paper was mentioned.