A United States court has awarded Ghana’s investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas US$18 million in a defamation lawsuit against former Ghanaian Member of Parliament, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong over allegations he made against Anas in 2021.
The ruling was delivered yesterday by the Essex County Superior Court in the US, following a lawsuit filed by the investigative journalist over comments Mr. Agyapong made during a September 7, 2021, interview on The Daddy Fred Show.
The online program, hosted by US-based Ghanaian Frederick Asamoah and broadcast in the Twi language, featured remarks in which the former NPP Flagbearer aspirant branded Anas a “criminal” and a “thief.”
The former lawmaker also alleged that Mr. Anas was responsible for the killing of his co-worker and undercover investigative journalist Ahmed Husein-Suale and the deaths of some Chinese nationals in Ghana.
The undercover journalist, however, argued in court that these statements were made out malice and severely damaged his reputation and put his life in danger.
In the former NPP MP’s response, he told the court that he made those comments during a heated political disputes and were not meant to be taken literally.
If readers can recall, Anas filed a similar case against the millionaire and NPP bankroller in Ghana but lost when Justice Eric Baah ruled against him saying the investigative journalist is indeed a blackmailer and extortionist.
The Ghanaian High Court Judge whiles delivering his rulling in 2023 said
I hold that the plaintiff is a blackmailer who uses blackmail to extort money from his opponents and people he does not like,” Justice Baah noted.
What the plaintiff is doing is not investigative journalism but investigative terrorism,” he stated.
He, therefore, went ahead to dismiss the defamation suit filed by Anas against the then Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong.
In lastest development, Anas’ former staff has been arrested in Accra in connection with the murder of Ahmed Suale.
