Court issues arrest warrant for Ayum Forest Product Limited boss

The Goaso circuit court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the Director of Ayum Forest Product Limited, Naja David, for absenting himself from court on many occasions.

Mr Naja is facing trial at the court presided by Mr Charles Kwasi Acheampong for failing to pay Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contribution of about 2,000 workers of his company, amounting to GH¢1,054,295.11.

At the court on Monday, Mrs Christiana Amoabeng-Agyei, SSNIT prosecutor, told the court that the amount had been outstanding for January 2015 and November 2016, and that attempts to negotiate payment by SSNIT with the company had failed.

The prosecutor said the situation was likely to deny a majority of the workers, who were due for retirement their benefits.

A representative of the Ayum Forest Products Limited, Mr Edward Boateng, in a dock, told the court that the company had folded up, and that was why it could not pay the workers SSNIT contribution.

But, Mr Charles Kwasi Acheampong disagreed with the explanation, indicating that the company should have paid the SSNIT contribution before it eventually folded up.

He subsequently granted the request of a bench warrant by SSNIT to compel the Managing Director of the company to appear before the court.

The SSNIT prosecutor in an interview with the Ghanaian Times, reminded employers that section 83 of the National pensions Law, Act 766 of 2008, stipulate that anyone who fails to pay SSNIT contribution of workers is liable for prosecution or face punishment, imprisonment or fine.

FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, GOASO