The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has been ordered by the Sekondi High Court not to interfere with a property at the Airport Residential Area in Takoradi.

The court, presided over by Mrs Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, further barred Mr Aidoo, his servants, agents, privies and assigns from entering or trespassing on the property, known as the former GNTC Residential Unit, Number 19, Airport Residential Area, Takoradi in the Western Region.

The order followed the granting of an interim injunction to restrain the minister from carrying on with further development on the property.

The action, which was initiated by Crystal Adverts, a subsidiary of Crystal Television, has the Western Regional Secretariat of the Lands Commission as a co-defendant.

Among other reliefs, the plaintiff claims against the defendants for a declaration of title to the piece of land on which GNTC Residential Unit, Number 19, Airport Residential Area, Takoradi is situated.

In its statement of claim, the plaintiff said by an advertisement in the Wednesday, June 5, 2002 edition of the Ghanaian Times, the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) invited interested persons, companies and organisations to submit bids for the outright acquisition of the then GNTC residential properties located throughout the country.

It said in pursuance of the programme, the government appointed various consultants for various regions of the country to handle the programme.

The statement said the plaintiff placed a bid for the residential unit known as GNTC Residential Unit 19, Airport Residential Area, Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana and won the said bid at the then total price of $27,000 and, accordingly, made part-payment.

It said as a general condition for the purchase, payments received after October 8, 2003 were subject to interest charges equivalent to the going US dollar.

According to the statement, the plaintiff had completed payment to the DIC and as of September 2013 had fully paid the DIC a total of $47,000 as a result of interest accumulation over the period.

It said unknown to both the plaintiff and the DIC, a trespasser had entered the property, divided same into two, including existing concrete platform and foundation, as number 19A and 19B and had been developing the property at an alarming rate at night.

The statement said a report was made to the Takoradi Police, whose investigations revealed that the regional minister was the trespasser.

It said the plaintiff, through its Managing Director, Chief Paul Crystal-Djirackor, and the chairman of the group, traced Mr Aidoo, who is also the former Western Regional Minister, and informed him of his illegal acts.

According to the statement, Mr Aidoo promised to contact the managing director to resolve the issue, promising to see him immediately after the Supreme Court had given its verdict on the recent election petition.

It said, however, that the plaintiff had waited all this while after the judgement delivered on August 29, 2013 but Mr Aidoo had refused to make any approaches yet, claiming that his occupancy of the land was upon the strength of a purported grant made by the Western Regional Secretary of the Lands Commission and was continuing with the development of the property even after he had been informed about his illegal acts.

It further stated that a request by the plaintiff for any evidence of the purported grant from the Western Regional Secretary of the Lands Commission had yielded no fruitful effort, as Mr Aidoo continued to be elusive and not forthcoming with hard facts on his acquisition of the property.

The statement said a call on the Western Regional Secretariat of the Lands Commission also drew a blank, as no official was ready to speak on the subject matter.

“It is the case of the plaintiff that the defendants are intent on continuing with their illegal acts and must be restrained from this illegality in the interest of justice,” the statement added.