Ghana’s business mogul, Mr. Ibrahim Mahama through his lawyers has given the investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni a seven-day ultimatum to retract and apology over some false claims he made against the businessman in his recently published book, “President Ghana Never Got”.
According to the letter signed by the BOBBY BANSON Esq on behalf of Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, the journalist in pages 98 to 99 of his latest book claimed that
“The Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), formerly stated owned Merchant Bank, generated uproar in 2013 when it was sold to a private equity firm, Fortiz. At the time, Firstrand Bank of South Africa was said to be willing to pay Ghc176million for 75% of the Merchant Bank’s shares, while Fortiz offered only Ghc90million for the 90% of the shares in the state-owned bank. The controversy deepened when it emerged that a brother of President Mahama, Ibrahim Mahama, was of the big debtors of the then Merchant Bank, which resulted in the bank’s struggles.”
“In the said publication, you did not make reference to the source of the information you published. We therefore assume that you have presented the alleged indebtedness of our Client to Merchant Bank as fact personally known to you.” – the lawyers letter to Mr. Awuni said.
In the letter to Manasseh, the Lawyers insisted that “Mr. Ibrahim Mahama has never been indebted to Merchant Bank or its successor, UMB Bank. Indeed, our Client has never applied for or received any facility from the said Bank in his personal capacity or for his personal use.”
The layers however clarified that “Engineers & Planners Company Limited, which is a separate legal entity from our Client, applied for and received a loan facility from Merchant Bank” adding that “In February 2014, the amount of $28million was paid by Engineers and Planners Company Ltd to Merchant Bank, in full and final settlement of the loan amount. A copy of the correspondence from Merchant Bank to this effect is attached as Annexure 1.”
NOTICE TO MANASSEH AZURI AWUNI FROM LAWYERS OF MR. IBRAHIM MAHAMA:
1. Mr. Ibrahim Mahama has never been indebted to Merchant Bank or its successor, UMB Bank. Indeed, our Client has never applied for or received any facility from the said Bank in his personal capacity or for his personal use.
2. Engineers & Planners Company Limited, which is a separate legal entity from our Client, applied for and received a loan facility from Merchant Bank.
3. In February 2014, the amount of $28million was paid by Engineers and Planners Company Ltd to Merchant Bank, in full and final settlement of the loan amount. A copy of the correspondence from Merchant Bank to this effect is attached as Annexure 1.
4. Unfortunately, just like you, most persons have ignorantly persisted in publishing the unfounded allegation of our Client being heavily indebted to Merchant Bank and which indebtedness lead to the sale of the Bank to Fortiz.
5. We recently found out that contrary to the evidence, the persons who took over the majority shares of Merchant Bank and the Management of the Bank, refused to report the fact that the debt had been paid to the Credit Bureau Agencies and the Bank of Ghana and may have even not credited the accounts of the bank with the amounts received from Engineers and Planners.
6. This discovery resulted in Engineers and Planners Company Limited instituting a court action against UMB Bank in 2023 for amongst others the following reliefs:
a. A declaration that the Engineers and Planners has fully paid its debt to UMB Bank.
b. An order for the UMB Bank to write to the Credit Bureau Agencies and Regulatory Agencies confirming that Engineers and Planners has fully paid its debt with the Bank
c. A declaration that the UMB Bank’s publication that the Plaintiff is indebted to it is false and unjustifiable.
A copy of the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim is attached as Annexure 2.
7. After being served with the said Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim, UMB Bank filed a Statement of Defence wherein it admitted that all the debt had been paid and further averred that it had instructed the Credit Bureau Agencies to amend their records accordingly. A copy of the Statement of Defence is attached as Annexure 3.
It is therefore not true that either Mr. Ibrahim Mahama or Engineers and Planners Company Ltd was indebted to Merchant Bank and which debt resulted in the struggles of the bank. Your publication has resulted in our Client’s business associates, family and friends inquiring from him the veracity of your claims as the publication has lowered his reputation as an honest businessman in the eyes of well-meaning Ghanaians.
We therefore have the instructions of our Client to demand from you an immediate retraction of the publication under reference and an unqualified apology to our Client.
Needless to add that should you fail, refuse or neglect to obliged the intimations contained in this letter within 7 days of your receipt of same, we shall proceed to seek legal redress against you without further notice to you.
Please be advised accordingly.
Yours faithfully,
BOBBY BANSON Esq.
More details attached to this post.
