Latex Foam fails to produce vital ‘Ghana@50’ documents
Mr Stephen Akuoku Acheampong, Accountant for Latex Foam Ghana Limited, on Tuesday failed to produce documentations, detailing the terms of contract the company signed with the Ghana@50 Committee as requested by the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Appau.
He told the Sole Commissioner that he was not aware whether there was any competitive bidding for the contract for the supply of the mattresses.
The answer did not go down well with the Commissioner as he was of the view that it appeared the company did not go through a competitive bidding before being awarded the contract.
Mr Acheampong told the Commissioner that although the company was scheduled to have finished supplying the mattresses by 15th February 2007, it could not meet the deadline hence the shift to June 2007, which was after the celebration of Ghana @50.
Mr Dometi Kofi Sokpo, Counsel for the Commission, who did not agree with Mr Acheampong also produced a document indicating that the final installment of the mattresses was made in July 2007 and not June 2007 as he stated.
Mr Acheampong told the Sole Commissioner that the company in February 2009 took the Ghana @50 Committee to court for its inability to pay them all that was due them as part of the agreement between them.
He said a verdict was reached in October 2009 in which the court ordered the Attorney-General Department to pay Latex Foam an amount of GHȼ207,356,62, which had been paid.
He said the company’s decision to take the matter to court for the second time stemmed from the fact that the Attorney-General’s Department failed to pay the GHȼ12,000 interests on the amount.
He noted that although the court again ordered the Attorney-General’s Department to pay them the interest, Latex Foam had not received it.
Justice Appau wondered why Latex Foam took the Ghana @50 Committee to court for payment delays when the company also failed to meet the deadline for the supply of the mattresses.
“If there was a real contract, all these terms would have been spelt out. Now they had to burden the state with the interest of the loan they went for to produce the mattresses”, he said.
Mr Acheampong although presented some documents to the Sole Commissioner, he failed to present all that was requested and was asked to produce them at a later date.
Some of the documents he failed to produce were the writ of summons in respects to claims from the Ghana @50 Committee to the court and also the judgment or ruling of the court requiring the payment of the judgment debt of GHȼ207,356,62.
The Solicitor-General and the Attorney-General, who were also billed to appear before the Commissioner, failed to turn up because they were out of town.
Source: GNA