Freddie Blay promised to provide buses for the constituencies of the party as part of his campaign to win the chairmanship slot of the party.
In July 2018, the first batch of 100 minibusses out of a total of 275, said to have been purchased by the NPP for commercial purposes, under the leadership of Freddie Blay arrived in the country.
The promise of the delivery of 275 buses, according to him, was to facilitate the work of the various constituencies across the country.
Lawsuit against Freddie Blay buses
When the buses arrived, Kelliot Royal Motors dragged the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) to an Accra High Court in a bid to block the distribution of 100 buses.
Kelliot Royal Motors avers in his writ that he secured a loan facility in excess of $3 million to procure the buses for onward sale to the party on May 13, 2018.
READ ALSO: Freddie Blay to gift 275 buses to NPP
According to the writ, the terms of agreement demanded that Kelliot Royal Motors will apply the loan facility to purchase the 100 Toyota Hiace vehicles for onward sale to the New Patriotic Party as part of importation for a total contract sum of $11,412,500 for 275 buses.
Plaintiff said repayment of the facility was to be made out of proceeds from off-taker of the buses.
"It is believed from reliable information that the Defendant is in the process vigorously and aggressively to offload the said buses to a third party who is alien to the agreement and in consequence denying the Plaintiff his right to receive the buses as contemplated by and contained in the said agreement," Kelliot Royal Motors said in its statement of claim.
Statement to impound
But the company in a press statement issued on Thursday, May 6, 2021, and signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Chris Azawodi, said the Universal Merchant Bank eventually released the buses to UP Travel Services Limited, a company believed to belong to Freddie Blay without their approval.
READ MORE: Minority calls for investigation into Freddie Blay‘s 275 buses purchase
The company urged the NPP Chairman to return the 100 vehicles to the company or pay an amount of $5.2 million dollars to avoid any further actions from them.
"The Chief Executive Officer of Kelliot Royal Motors Limited and the entire company are hereby demanding from Mr. Freddie Blay to as a matter of urgency act accordingly to a letter from our lawyers or face tough actions from us. Our lawyers Akufo Addo, Prempeh, and co have ordered Mr. Freddie Blay to return the 100 vehicles belonging to us or pay an amount of $5.2 million dollars," the statement read.
It added: "This is, therefore, the last time we are requesting from Mr. Freddie Blay to do the needful and we shall not hesitate to go ahead and impound the vehicles should he fail to comply."