Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister, has filed a law suit against Captain Smart, a media personality, over an alleged defamatory comment he made about the former.
Captain Smart was reported to have accused the minister of taking 10% of the funds approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the country. He made this accusation on his morning program, Maakye with Captain Smart, on Onua TV on May 22, 2023.
In the legal writ dated Friday, June 2, 2023, which was sighted by 1Family Radio, the plaintiff, Ken Ofori-Atta, is requesting GH10 million for the damages caused by the defamatory comment of the presenter.
“Are you aware that Ken Ofori-Atta has taken his 10% of the IMF money? Every loan we take, he takes 10 dollars,’’ Captain Smart is purported to have asked.
“The above statements are not only palpably false and absolutely fabricated, but were also deliberately calculated to disparage the plaintiff. Those words are malicious and were clearly further intended to convey and would be understood to convey meanings that diminish the plaintiff in the minds of right-thinking members of society,’’ the legal note noted.
It continued: “The said words set out supra in their natural and ordinary meaning meant and were understood to mean, inter alia, that the plaintiff is corrupt, that the plaintiff has diverted public funds, and that the plaintiff has abused his office.’’
“By reason of the foregoing, plaintiff has been greatly injured in his credit, character, and reputation and has been brought into public scandal, ridicule, distress, and embarrassment and has thereby suffered damage,’’ the statement read.
The minister is therefore requesting a declaration that the words uttered by the defendants and particularized below are defamatory of the plaintiff.
He is also praying for a ‘’recovery of the sum of ten million Ghana cedis (GH10,000.00) as general damages, including aggravated and/or exemplary damages for defamation for the libel uttered by the defendant.’’
“An apology for and retraction of words complained of and particularized. A perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, whether by himself, his servants, agents, or assigns, from repeating similar or other defamatory words against the plaintiff,’’ the legal document added.
Source: 1Familyradio
