Mr. Frank Asiedu Bekoe, Political Director at the Office of the Chief of Staff has sued a broadcast journalist working with Joy TV and the Multimedia Group for publishing defamatory documentary against him.
Mr. Kwettey Nettey and the Multimedia Group run a documentary to the effect that Mr. Bekoe allocated and auctioned seized vehicles to politically connected cronies of the government without the beneficiaries paying the required assessed duties.
Mr. Bekoe says that the documentary was defamatory and therefore claiming compensatory damages in the sum of Ten Million Ghana Cedis (GHC10,000,000.00) from Mr. Nettey and the Multimedia Group.
Apart from that Mr. Bekoe wants a declaration from the court that the publication on Joy TV against him in connection with the auction vehicles was defamatory and was made without any basis.
The Plaintiff wants an order of injunction directed at the Defendants, agents, assigns, privies from continuing to air the said defamatory documentary.
Again, Mr. Bekoe wants an order of the court directed at Mr. Nettey and the Multimedia Group to retract and render unqualified apology in the same prominence on Joy TV and four publications in the Daily Graphic.
In addition, Mr. Bekoe is asking the court for general damages and costs, including legal fees.
A statement of claim in a suit filed by Mr. Gary Nimako of Safo & Marfo @ Law on March 4, 2020, said that the publication by the Defendants which was widely circulated has damage the Plaintiff’s (Mr. Bekoe) image as a public officer.
Mr. Bekoe avers that by standard of journalistic practice, Mr. Nettey and the Multimedia Group ought to have also cross-checked with relevant facts with him before putting the documentary but woefully failed to do so.
‘’It is clear that the Defendants sought to embark on a one-sided piece of work that was carefully calculated, designed, crafted to malign and destroy the reputation of the Plaintiff in the eyes of right thinking members of society,’’ the statement said.
It said: ‘’the publication of the Defendants has seriously affected Mr. Bekoe’s reputation in the public space, including social and print media.’’
Attached Is The Writ Of Summons
Source: ghananewsonline.com.gh