Following an order by the appeals court that he pays GH¢310,000 to the renowned businessman in compensation for lowering his reputation in the estimation of the public, Mr. Owusu Bempah’s bank account with the National Investment Bank has been emptied to pay the fine and still has a long way to go.
A report by MyNewsGh said in compliance with an order of the bank that should the account have less than GH¢310,000, it should be emptied, the bank was forced to add the last 60 pesewas left in the account.
With the payment of GH¢107,000 plus 60 pesewas of the GH¢310,000, Owusu Bempah now has GH¢202,999.40 pesewas to pay Mr. Ibrahim Mahama for defaming him, the news portal added with evidence of the said payment attached.
It is further reported that lawyers for Ibrahim Mahama are seriously looking for legal means to empty the Mobile Money account of Ernest Owusu Bempah to settle the debt.
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The legal team is said to be conducting investigations over the actual ownership of a plush 3-bedroom house Owusu Bempah lives in at Tema after he denied ownership of the property.
“The claim that I, Ernest Owusu Bempah am pleading with Ibrahim Mahama to have the matter settled behind closed doors is false and very defamatory,” Ernest Bempah had written.
“Again, the claim that I have a house in Tema and that it is being sold to defray the cost of the damages is also false. I don’t own any property in Tema and such fiction can only come from the figment of the imagination of a deluded mind” he added.
Although Ernest Owusu Bempah has indicated his intention to challenge the appeals court ruling at the Supreme Court of Ghana after he lost the appeal he filed last year, it appears he as to pay the fine anyway, since his intention does not constitute a stay of execution.