Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Friday, August 22, 2014
The Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment
of judgement debts yesterday heard that Subin Timbers Limited - confiscated by
the government in the heat of the PNDC revolution - had been in existence as
far back as1969 and could not have been formed by January 1977 as claimed by a
petitioner.
However, the petitioner was able to explain the
circumstances that brought Ohene Kofi (deceased) to lead the defunct company in
the late1970s after he entered into a partnership with an Italian called Evo
Fiorini.
Emmanuel Arthur, counsel for the Kumasi based pastor
Daniel Opoku Adabo who is claiming Subin Timbers on behalf of the original owner
Ohene Kofi told Sole Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau that the destruction of documents
by soldiers during the revolution affected evidence.
“When Evo Fiorini and Ohene Kofi met, they agreed
that Ohene Kofi be made a director of Subin Timbers. It wasn’t that a new
company was formed and he was given shareholding.”
He said that initially, Ohene Kofi owned Kofi Timber
Agency while Evo Fiorini had Evo Timber Company Limited and the Italian was
also a director in Subin Timber Limited in Kumasi as at 1969 with a branch in
Takoradi.
Counsel said that “along the line, Subin Timbers in
Kumasi fell into debt and that was the point Mr. Amoah also a director, introduced
Mr. Fiorini to Ohene Kofi over a merger. Ohene Kofi paid the debt for Mr. Fiorini
and became part of the new Subin Timers Limited.”
Mr. Arthur said when a case was filed against Ohene
Kofi’s family by one Dr. Ampaabeng who had bought WVCL through a divestiture
and they requested for the current standing of the company from the
Registrar-General’s Department “all that we could obtain was the change of the
directorship and it was clear that certain pages had been removed.”
“If we had found the missing part in the docket,
everything would have been clear. We would have seen who had the greater
percentage of shares in Subin Timbers,” he said, adding “the merger was around
1976 and the absolving of Ohene Kofi into Subin Timbers was in January 1977.”
When the commission pointed out to the witness that Subin
Timber of 1969 had no link with Subin Timber of 1977, counsel said “Subin
Timber in 1969 was in Kumasi and had an offshoot in Takoradi right opposite St
Mary’s Secondary School.”
“The nexus is not there because Ohene Kofi’s
documents at the Takoradi office and house were taken away by the rampaging
military at the time,” adding “Mr. Fiorini had to flee the country and later
relocated to Gabon and even invited Ohene Kofi to join him over there for a
similar business but he declined due to old age.”
He said Mr. Fiorini later asked Ohene Kofi to fight
and get the company back if he could and it was Ohene Kofi who initiated the
process to get back the company at CHRAJ before he passed out along the line.
He said Ohene Kofi’s family won the case both at the
High Court and the Court of Appeal when Dr. Ampaabeng who had bought Western
Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC) after a divestiture sued them.
Executive Secretary of Divestiture Implementation
Committee (DIC) Asakkua Agambila blew wide open the Subin Timers case recently,
when he asked the commission to revisit the matter because the beneficiary of
the deconfiscation could not have been the owner of the company.
He had told the commission that there was
amalgamation of companies including Subin Timbers Limited into Western Veneer
and Lumber Company (WVLC) after the confiscation in the 1980s and Ohene Kofi
who claimed to be the owner Subin Timers should not have been given everything
at WVCL.
“What informed their decision that Subin Timbers not
being a sole proprietorship belonged to one person. We at DIC, don’t even
believe that Ohene Kofi had any shares in Subin Timbers and in any case there
were no shares to be deconfiscated,” Mr. Agambila has added.
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