The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is being forced to release an adulterated fuel which it has impounded into the market for consumption, despite the severe ramification it poses to vehicle owners in the country.
The fuel valued at over GHC10 million, was smuggled into the country early this year by a shipping vessel M/V Bluefoss, which is the subject of litigation at the Sekondi High Court in the Western Region.
The vessel is also a subject of litigation at the Tema High Court in the Greater Accra Region, as a result of its owners indebtedness.
One Ernest Domie, had dragged owners of the vessel to the Tema High Court, complaining they had gone missing, after contracting a loan of US$100, 000.00 from him. He demanded the vessel be arrested and detained by the Ghanaian authorities, including Ghana Navy, wherever it is sighted in the waters of Ghana.
Interestingly, before the arrest of the vessel which later changed its name to Vessel MT Sirius Voyager, through the efforts of the Navy, the owner of the contaminated fuel, Clement Alexander Clements, had died under strange circumstances on the Tema Motorway.
However, former First Vice-Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Central Region, Horace Ekow Ewusi, has since stepped forward, saying he had been appointed as an auctioneer by court to take delivery of the tainted fuel, sell it and use the money to defray a debt owed by the dead man.
But before he could get access to the fuel, the NPA, which had gotten wind of its unsuitability, had under the protection of personnel of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Armed Forces and the National Security, sent in tankers to offload it to a safe place. It had tested the quality of the pirated fuel and discovered it was unwholesome for consumption.
Ekow Ewusi, has since dragged Perry Okudzeto, a Deputy Chief Executive of the NPA to Court for contempt for not allowing him access to the fuel said to have a higher concentration of sulphur above the allowable limit for vehicles plying Ghanaian roads.
Aside from the high Surphur content of the smuggled fuel, those pushing for its sale, have no license to trade in fuel products.
Thirdly, it has been argued that, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will have to take stock of the impure fuel and place its revenue margins on it, before it could be sold, after scientific means have been used to lower the surphur content to Ghana’s level.
The claim of Ernest Domie, had been that the vessel which was flying the Togolese flag, had the owners through the managers of the vessel contracted a loan facility of US$100, 000.00 for the purchase of spare parts, routine maintenance services and maintenance of the crew in relation to the vessel.
The parties, had agreed that the loan would be repaid by March 2019. This was after the defendant had through its management, convinced that the vessel was in dire need of financial support, in order to save it from financial distress, but the period of repayment has elapsed.
He argued that, despite several demands made on the 2nd Defendant to pay the amount owed with the interests agreed on, the 2nd Defendant failed, refused and neglected to settle the said outstanding sum.
The legal document said that 2nd Defendant’s indebtedness to it for ship maintenance and that of the crew, gives it a right in rem and a charge over the 1st Defendant vessel which at the time was at the anchorage of the Tema Habour within the territorial waters of the country and within the jurisdiction of the court.
The plaintiff wanted the recovery of an amount of US$100,000.00 due him from the defendant as at 30th March 2019, an interest on the said sum at prevailing commercial bank interest rate from 30th March, 2019, till the date of final payment, cost and damages for the breach of contract.
Alternatively, an order for the judicial sale of the vessel in satisfaction of the total debt owed the plaintiff.
But a third claimant; K.D.R Limited, emerged suing Humano Energy Limited based in Adjirgano, Coastal Mart Limited of Accra and Maxx Energy of Ashaiman near Tema, laying claim to the fuel on the vessel. It filed an application for an order for interim Preservation and Detention.
It got a restraining order from the Sekondi High Court for the managers of the vessel, their agents, assigns, privies , servants etc be restrained from discharging and interfering in any way or manner with the Gas oil aboard the said Vessel MT Sirius Voyager (Bluefoss Products Tanker IMO 7419042).
Ekow Ewusi’s claim against Perry Okudzeto, is that following a judgment delivered by the Tema High Court, on January 26, 2022, in the case of Humano v. Clement Alexander Clements (Suit No. E2/026/22), he was entrusted as the Auctioneer at the point of execution to oversee any asserts attached in the satisfaction of the judgment in favour of the plaintiff/Judgement Creditor.
“That consequently, we identified petroleum products (Automotive Gas Oil) aboard the vessel Bluefoss/Sirius Voyager Chemical Tanker IMO 7419042 (the vessel) at the Takoradi Harbour.
That consequently, we complied with all the processes and had the auction fixed for 20th June 2022. Consequently, the said auction was conducted and completed on the said date.
That in proceeding to give orders for the auctions of the products, the court gave clear orders that the proceeds of the auction, should be paid into an interest bearing account pending the determination and finalization of all outstanding matters.
Not long after the auction we became aware of a Motion for Stay of Execution of the Judgment of the Honourable High Court with a return dated 29th June 2022 filed by the NPA.
But in clear violation on 28th June 2022, a day before the determination, the NPA proceeded to order for the release of the auctioned products from the vessel.
Ekow Ewusi, through his lawyer, Stephen Batse, said that Mr Okudzeto, without delay commenced loading tankers to transport the petroleum products from the Habour to an unknown location. He attached pictures of the tankers offloading the products for transportation from the Takoradi Harbour to the unknown destination.
He gave the registration numbers of some of the vehicles lifting the products as; GM5938-21, GN9286-12, GM2255-12, GN9288-12, GN7901-12 and GN9279-12.
Ekow Ewusi, said that the deputy NPA CEO, refused to halt the exercise although he and the others knew of the court orders and the fact that the NPA, had an application for stay of execution pending the next day, adding that several entreaties and advice to the NPA officers, particularly Mr Okudzeto through telephone conversation to desist from their conduct and await directives from the court the next day went unheeded. Rather he insisted on pursuing that conduct of lifting the products without recourse to the court.
The former government’s Operation Vanguard member, who had some trouble over some missing excavators seized from illegal mining sites, said that he had been advised that Mr Okudzeto’s action in forcibly lifting the products without recourse to the court, has brought the course of the administration of justice into gross disrepute and ought to be punished.
He said, he had been advised to believe that Mr Okudzeto in willfully disobeying the order of the court to wait for a determination of the application by the NPA which by extension is an application by its officers to enable the court deal with the matter is contemptuous of the court and ought to be punished by being committed to prison.
He described the conduct of the NPA officials as intentional, willful, grossly disrespectful and calculated to undermine and ridicule the authority of the court, and will not stop the gross disrespect to the authority of the court unless committed to prison through contempt of Court. The case is scheduled for hearing on July 8, 2022.
