In the Monday 27th June, 2022 (Vol.14 No.093) edition of the New Crusading Guide, there appeared on the front page, and continuing on pages 5 and 10, a news story published by us under the heading “ Charles Oppong-Kyekyeku hauled before Court for fraud” , which we published together with his photograph. The said news story was in three parts and stated by us to be based upon the Monday 20th June 2022 proceedings of the Circuit Court, Accra. It was supposedly founded on facts presented to the Court by the prosecution and we published the same based upon information and a source that we believed to be reliable.
We have, however, subsequently ascertained and now recognize that the first part of our story, consisting of alleged fraud committed by Mr. Charles Oppong-Kyekyeku is founded on a feud between him and Edem Affram, his previous business partner, over unresolved issues of accounts within a company Mr. Edem Affram has resigned from, and that Mr. Charles Oppong Kyekyeku does not admit committing any offence as alleged or at all. Thus, it remains a mere allegation which Mr. Edem Affram has to lead evidence to prove before the Court.
We also alluded to Mr. Charles Oppong-Kyekyeku being denied entry into Dubai because he was under Ghana Police investigation. This did not form part of the facts presented to the Court on that day, but our own investigation shows that the Ministry of Interior has failed to respond to Mr. Charles Oppong-Kyekyeku’s enquiry on the matter in which he pointedly fingered Mr. Edem Affram as being behind the said incident.
The third part of our story relating to an alleged criminal conviction of Mr Charles Oppong-Kyekyeku by a court in the United Kingdom did not also form part of the facts of the case presented to the Circuit Court, Accra on 20th June 2022, and to that extent, the publication was not a true or fair representation of what transpired in court and amounted to a misrepresentation of the Circuit Court’s proceedings for that day.
It has been pointed to us that the way we published this aspect of the news story, in particular, could have been read by some readers as suggesting that Mr Charles Oppong Kyekyeku is tainted with fraud such as to lose the benefit of the doubt accorded to an accused person under the 1992 Constitution. We take the opportunity to clarify that no such suggestion was ever intended, and it would, of course, have been totally unfounded.
We greatly regret any distress or embarrassment that the publication has caused to Mr Charles Oppong-Kykyeku, and we are glad to take the opportunity of apologizing to him and correcting any misunderstanding. We further recognize that, being a publication concerning pending criminal proceedings, we ought to be circumspect in our reportage to avoid any unfair prejudice in the mind of the reading public regarding the eventual outcome of the case. We, accordingly, in addition to the apology to Mr. Charles Oppong-Kyekyeku, render an unqualified apology to the Circuit Court for the said publication and bind ourselves to avoid a repetition of this conduct, which we consider unfortunate.
