Journalist and former Project Officer of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) Erasmus Kwaw, has told an Accra High Court he would subpoena the GOC’s Disciplinary/Grievances/Dispute/Resolution Committee’s investigative report into the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games visa scandal, to unravel the mystery surrounding the alleged unlawful termination of his employment at the GOC.
Despite receiving the Justice Amadu Tanko report that indicts several top officials of the GOC in the visa scam on 15th February, 2019, the GOC is yet to make public contents of the report.
The Olympic governing body was directed by the investigative committee to make copies of the report available to all witnesses and the Olympic family, and was subsequently given a directive by a member of the committee Madam Gifty Annan-Myers to hand over a copy to Mr. Erasmus Kwaw but they have refused to act accordingly and have held on tightly to the report.
Meanwhile, the trial judge overruled an objection raised by the defendant’s lawyer against the filing of the minutes of the GOC’s Emergency Committee meeting held on 23rd April 2018 by the plaintiff.
The minutes reveal the GOC and its officials were allegedly complicit in the accreditation process that led to the deportation of some 60 Ghanaians for attempting to enter Australia by false pretenses, as alleged by the government of Ghana.
The judge however upheld the defendant’s application to remove the minutes as an exhibit, leaving room for the plaintiff to subpoena that document officially from the GOC.
According to reports, Mr. Kwaw also informed the court during the Case Management Conference that he would subpoena investigative reports from the Nima Divisional Police Command and Ministries Divisional Police Command into the assault claims he made against the GOC on 19th March, 2017 and 27th March 2017 respectively.
This came after the plaintiff was served witness statements by the GOC President Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah, Treasurer Mr. Fredrick Otu Lartey and board member Nana Mankata II.
The trio deny claims the GOC President in the company of others barged into the office of the plaintiff and assaulted him before a board meeting at the GOC on 17th March, 2018. They also deny claims Mr. Nunoo Mensah instructed Nana Mankata to collect the keys to the plaintiff’s office and to change his locks with an objective of coercing him out of the GOC’s employment on 28th July, 2017.
The trial judge adjourned the Case Management Conference to 11th April to allow the plaintiff to file the necessary changes to his Pre-Trial Check list.
It will be recalled that three government officials including the then Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Pius Enam Hadzide were initially suspended by the government for their roles in the Australia visa scandal but were eventually reinstated following an alleged investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department which cleared them of any wrongdoing.
