Defamation: VALCO Trust Fund Boss sues Onua TV’s Captain Smart for GHC 20 Million

Chief Executive Officer of the VALCO Trust Fund, Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah, has hauled vocal broadcast journalist, Blessed Godsbrain Smart, popularly known as Captain Smart and Media General before the Accra High Court over charges of defamation of his person on the Onua Maakye morning show on Onua Television.

According to Court documents with suit number GJ/0037/2023 available to ghananewsonline.com.gh, the VALCO Trust Fund Boss is demanding GHC 20 Million as general damages for the defamation and an order from the court for Captain Smart and Media General to render an apology to him on all the platforms on which the statements were made.

The plaintiff, Mr. Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah, in the statement of claim before the court, explained that on August 1 and 2, 2022, Captain Smart used the Onua Television platform of Media General to publish malicious and false statements against his person, to the whole world in the Twi language with intermittent explanations in English.

On the said programme, Mr. Yeboah avers that Captain Smart alleged that he dismissed about eight (8) staffs of the Fund without due process and that one Miss Elizabeth Simpson, former administrator of the Fund was also sacked for refusing to sign a letter that sought to make the VALCO Boss a sole signatory to the funds account.

Mr. Yeboah further avers that Captain Smart claimed that he dismissed all staffs of the Fund following their refusal to allow him to steal from the Fund.

Captain Smart is also on record to have said that he (the plaintiff) paid GHC175,000.00 to a Real Estate Times for a breakfast meeting for only twenty (20) persons.

The Statement of Claim further indicates that, Captain Smart alleged that Mr. Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah has siphoned all monies in the investment account of the Fund and sole-sourced the coverage of the schools under tree projects to his company, Real Estate Times.

It further claimed that Captain Smart said the plaintiff spent GHC 20,500.00 on printing 3 copies of the procurement manual of 80 pages each for the fund and that, Mr. Yeboah also spent GHC 128,000.00 on window blinds and GHC 559,006.50 to build three (3) schools instead of 17 schools under trees, thereby misappropriating the money for the unbuilt schools.

Mr. Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah is therefore pleading with the court to grant him the GHC 20 Million as general damages, an unqualified apology on all platforms used to propagate the falsehood, and a perpetual injunction restraining Captain Smart or anybody acting on his behalf from further making or publishing the defamatory statements about him on any platform.

Below are details of the suit:

More soon!