Audio By Carbonatix
Lawyers for NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, have urged an Accra High Court to throw out a defamation suit filed by Chairman of the Audit Service Board, Prof. Dua Agyemang.
They say the writ filed at the court fails to state in the Ghanaian dialect, Twi, the utterances attributed to Mr. Nketia which Prof. Dua contends are defamatory.
The NDC Chief Scribe had claimed in various media interviews that Prof. Dua while serving as Auditor General churned out fake audit reports resulting in his membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana) being withdrawn.
Prof Dua headed to court demanding damages saying his integrity and reputation has been dealt a severe blow.
Lawyers for Mr Nketia Friday morning moved a motion asking for dismissal of the case.
Lead counsel for Mr. Nketia, Johnson Normesinu told the court the case discloses no reasonable cause of action because the specific words Prof Dua finds defamatory are not stated in the writ.
He said the court could not rely on the translation provided without having access to the original utterances in Twi.
But in a strong rebuttal, lead Counsel for Prof Dua, Gary Nimako Marfo described the application as a red herring aimed at delaying the court.
He read from documents filed in court by the NDC Scribe in which he had stated his preparedness to provide evidence to back his claims.
Mr. Marfo said this meant Mr. Nketia had read the translated statements and did not find it misleading hence his statement in response indicating his resolve to prove it.
He added that if the court wanted the Twi utterances attached, they could simply provide that instead of the court throwing out the case since they could simply issue another writ.
Justice Sophia R. Bernasko-Essah adjourned hearing to January 23, 2019 to deliver her ruling
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