NTC urges court to set aside garnishee order against it
The management of New Times Corporation (NTC) has urged an Accra High Court to set aside a garnishee order against the corporation over payment of judgement debt to a former employee.
It said that it would suffer serious financial and operational setbacks if the said order was not set aside.
Mr Kofi Asuman, a former Managing Director of the corporation filed an ex-parte motion and obtained a garnishee order which directed the Manager of GCB, North Industrial Area branch to appear in court on July 11, 2019.
Upon appearance in court, the order stated that the GCB Manager or his representative would show cause why monies standing to the credit of NTC should not be used to defray the remaining judgement debt of GH¢278,079.26 to Mr Asuman.
Mr Asuman, earlier in 2013, sued the National Media Commission (NMC) and the NTC over wrongful calculation and payment of his End of Service Benefits.
The court entered judgement in his favour on June 30, 2017 and asked the Corporation to pay the plaintiff (Mr Asuman) GH¢515,186.59 judgement debt.
Following that, the NTC entered an agreement with the plaintiff and paid him a total of GH¢341,296.65 out of the GH¢515,186.59 between May 2018 and May 2019.
But, even before the payment plan was completed, the plaintiff filed an ex-parte motion and urged the court to freeze the account of his former employer domiciled at GCB.
Displeased by his action, the NTC filed a motion on notice for stay of execution of judgement and an order to set aside the garnishee order and payment of judgement debt by installment.
Mr Martin Adu-Owusu, the acting Managing Director of the Corporation deposed to the affidavit in support of the motion and said the application was in bad faith.
The NTC said the motion ex-parte was a deception of facts to the court and provides ground(s) to stay judgement and set aside the garnishee order.
The applicant contended that had the plaintiff been candid, the court would have refused the application in its entirety.
The corporation argued that it is in the financial position to execute the arrangement with the plaintiff to settle its indebtedness.
It said that the NTC entered into an agreement with Mr Asuman for the payment of his End of Service Benefits by installments.
It is the case of the corporation that by a letter dated May 30, 2019, the NTC notified the NMC of the execution of installment payments to Mr Asuman.
Similarly, the applicant said that in another letter dated June 25, 2019 and addressed to NMC, the NTC stated that it had issued four postdated cheques for the sum of GH¢43, 472.49 each for July, August, September and October to cover the outstanding GH¢173,899.96 judgement debt to Mr Asuman.
The corporation wants the court to order the applicant to continue to pay the outstanding Judgment debt by installments and in accordance with the payment schedule.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
