A High Court in Kumasi has ordered Unicom Commodities Limited to pay GH¢1,200,000 and additional GH¢40,000 as cost to Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited for defamation.
Nyonkopa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barry Callebaut, sued Unicom which is part of the ECOM Group in 2017, after it complained that its rival had defamed it and sought GH¢2,000,000 as general damages.
There is currently a legal tussle over how the fine should be paid following a complex appeal process involving the two licensed cocoa buyers in the country.
In February 2017, Nyonkopa Cocoa instituted a suit in a Commercial Court in Kumasi against Unicom Commodities and one Abdul Rahman claiming GH¢2,000,000 as general damages for deliberately misleading the police to cause the impounding of their truck loaded with bags of cocoa beans graded and uniquely coded, including a waybill and a Quality Control Certificate (QCC).
According to Nyonkopa Cocoa, the arrest and detention of their truck denigrated the company and, therefore, claimed for an order of perpetual injunction against Unicom Commodities and its assigns from further making such malicious act of misleading the police to frustrate their legal activities.
After two years of trial, the court ordered Unicom Commodities to pay GH¢1.2 million to Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Ltd. as general damages and a cost of GH¢40,000 for defamation.
The trial court also ordered Nyonkopa to refund GH¢71,000 being the cash value of 150 bags of cocoa beans to Unicom Commodities following a counter-claim.
Unicom Commodities then appealed against the judgment and when Nyonkopa Cocoa tried to enforce the judgment, Unicom Commodities filed for a stay of execution at the trial court pending the appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Unicom Commodities application for stay of execution was first substantially granted by the High Court, Commercial Division but the court also said it had to pay GH¢500,000 to Nyonkopa Cocoa, pending the determination of the appeal by the Court of Appeal.
Dissatisfied with the said substantial grant, Unicom Commodities repeated the application for stay of execution at the Court of Appeal which unanimously dismissed it as unmeritorious.
Although the said appeal is still pending, Unicom Commodities, according to Nyonkopa Cocoa, is under legal and equitable obligation to pay Nyonkopa Cocoa a total of GH¢1,240,000 being the entire judgment debt imposed by the High Court unless the Court of Appeal quashes that decision.
Basic Facts
Around 30th December 2016, Nyonkopa Cocoa, as part of its obligations to COCOBOD, evacuated 600 bags of graded, bagged and sealed cocoa beans, with a unique coding and waybill. They were certified by Quality Control Company (QCC) in its own name from its warehouse at Asumura, Goaso, in the then Brong Ahafo Region which was under the management of its District Manager, Abdul Rahmani Mahama. The said secondary evacuation was bound for Kaase Port in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The next day, Unicom Commodities caused the impounding of the said truck en route to Kaase Port by the Ashanti Regional Police Command for alleged stealing of 600 bags of cocoa beans by Nyonkopa, with the connivance of the said Abdul Rahmani Mahama.
After investigations had concluded, the said Police Command issued a report exonerating Nyonkopa Cocoa of any wrong doing and that has triggered the instant court action.