By Julian Owusu-Abedi
After a long battle spanning over two decades to determine the rightful owner of the land on which the Trassacco Valley Estate is situated, the Supreme Court has finally brought the litigation to an end by pronouncing judgment on the matter between Trassacco Valley(Empire Builders) and Top Kings Limited in favor of the latter.
Trassacco Valley owned by Ernesto Taricone and Top Kings Limited owned by Kingsleys Owusu-Achau, two powerful Real Estate giants locked horns at the then Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Brobbey some twenty years ago. The Fast Track Court ruling went in favor of Top Kings but Empire Builders who are the owners of Trassacco Valley would not agree to that and proceeded to seek redress at the Appeals Court.
Here again, at the Court of Appeal, the High Court ruling was affirmed and upheld still in favor of Top Kings Limited but Empire Builders would have ‘non-of-that’ and proceeded to the Apex Court as within their right and remit.
However, at the Supreme Court, a five member Panel presided over by Justice Baffoe-Bonnie again unanimously dismissed the case of the Empire Builders and further slapped them with a cost of Gh¢10,000 to bring closure to the protracted land matter casting the fate of the residents of Trassacco Valley in limbo.
In an interview with the Managing Director of Top Kings Limited after his victory at the Supreme Court, Mr. Owusu-Achau said, he was confident the Apex Court was going to stand-up for the truth to stand alone and that he was happy that once again and lastly the decision went in his favor.
The Real Estate Mogul however bemoaned how bad and an arduous a task dealing with the court systems over land litigations with such lethargy which effectively kills investor confidence. He cited that “to the point where countries like Canada cautions their prospective Investors coming to Ghana to be weary of land acquisitions for their projects can be detrimental to the economy and should be addressed immediately”.
“It sends bad signals to foreign investors. We lost not only HFC Bank but some Canadian investors as partners due to this litigation. We thank God the court has ruled in our favor, we Title Certificate to the land so technically, occupants of the land are not the real owners and so they should be looking elsewhere”, he advised.
