Christian Sottie, SML Boss
Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), the company accused of receiving a ‘shady’ 10-year contract from the Ministry of Finance, has initiated a GH¢10 million lawsuit against the Fourth Estate and its Editor-in-chief Manasseh Azure for defamation.
The company, in a suit filed before a High Court in Accra, avers that a publication of Fourth Estate’s documentary titled ‘The GH¢3bn Lie’ has defamed it and damaged its reputation within the corporate world.
It avers, among others that the publication which were made on the media house’s YouTube channel and subsequently published on its website, has evoked feeling of hatred and outrage towards it in the eyes of the public and right thinking members of society worldwide.
The Fourth Estate, a news website operated by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), in a documentary had claimed that the company was awarded a ‘questionable’ and ‘shady’ 10-year contract.
The website claimed in its documentary that its investigation had uncovered that at the time players in the downstream petroleum sector were questioning the relevance of SML’s involvement, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, initiated a more “outrageous deal that would entitle the company to over $100 million every year for the next 10 years.”
The Fourth Estate documentary also claimed that SML made false claims of saving Ghana billions of credits through its operations in the downstream petroleum sector.
SML, in its suit, said it issued two rejoinders to Fourth Estate “setting the record straight to the public as part of its dedication to truth, transparency, accountability and integrity in its operations and dealings.”
It however, points out that in spite of that, the Fourth Estate continued to publish articles attacking its contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), describing it as ‘shady’ and ‘questionable’ “without providing to its audience any justification or bases whatsoever for those labels”.
SML avers that the Fourth Estate’s ‘false publications’ about its contract with the GRA has resulted in public reactions and backlash which has further hurt, marred and damaged its reputation in the eyes of Ghanaians, causing distrust and a lack of confidence in the company’s operations in the petroleum sector.
The suit says an instance of such backlash and hatred is when former President John Dramani Mahama said he would cancel the company’s contract if re-elected because it is shady as reported by defendants.
It further avers that the onslaught of backlash from the public as a result of the Fourth Estate’s publication has adversely impacted SML’s operations.
“Plaintiff says that although it published rejoinders to the defendants’ false reportage, the defendants have failed and/or refused to retract and apologise to the plaintiff for the false information they have consistently peddled,” the suit adds.
It is, therefore, seeking a total of GH¢10 million – GH¢1 million as general damages and another GH¢9 million as exemplary damages for “reckless and malicious report” by the Fourth Estate.
It is also asking for a perpetual injunction against the publication of further defamatory material by the defendants, a retraction and apology, and any other orders deemed appropriate by the court.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak