Labianca gate: Your response is a ‘lame attempt at damage control’ Lawyer tells Labianca

Labianca Company Limited‘s reaction to the Special Prosecutor‘s findings has been criticized by private attorney Saviour Kudze, as a weak attempt at damage control.

According to the lawyer, the response issued by the company was not from the lawyers of the Company and thereby questioning the basis for which Labianca Group Limited paid the ¢1.074 million after the report emerged.

“This is a lame attempt at damage control because reading the statement which they issued, the statement, let me say was not issued by their lawyers but was issued by the Company with the intention of asking their lawyers to take the matter up,” Saviour Kudze said in an interview on Joy FM, Wednesday, August 24.

He, however, argued that the reason for payment is that “they had agreed that there was some wrongdoing that is why they had to pay the money.

“They themselves alluded to the fact that they appeared before the Special Prosecutor during the investigation and during the investigations of course if you had evidence in support of your case you would have made it available before the Special prosecutor.”

The lawyer noted that the only legitimate claim Labianca’s statement is the “fact that they were not furnished with the Special Prosecutors report at a point in time.”

Labianca in a statement issued on Wednesday, August 24, threatened to take legal action against the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for issuing an influence-peddling report against it.

The Company said, “we take the findings of the Office of the Special Prosecutor seriously and have consequently instructed our lawyers to take the necessary action on this matter.”

Background

The OSP in a recent report noted that it had recovered GH¢1.074 million from Labianca, owned by Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh, an elected member of the Council of State representing the Western Region.

The amount represented a shortfall in import duties the frozen foods company paid to the state.

In an investigative report by the OSP, Ms Asomah-Hinneh was accused of influence-peddling by allegedly using her position as a member of the Council of State and member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to get a favourable decision from the Customs Division for her company.

The investigative report, dated August 3, 2022, is titled: “Report of Investigation into Alleged Commission of Corruption and Corruption-Related Offences involving Labianca Group of Companies and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.”