The Supreme Court has rejected an application for certiorari filed against Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
The five-member panel, led by Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, upheld the previous ruling by the High Court.
Six years ago, a High Court in Accra dismissed a GHC25 million defamation lawsuit brought by Anas Aremeyaw Anas against Kennedy Agyapong and imposed a cost of GHC50,000 on the journalist.
In a majority decision on Wednesday, February 28, the Supreme Court dismissed the case.
Anas had alleged that the lawmaker defamed him, leading to legal proceedings initiated in 2018.
Anas prayed the court to award damages against Agyapong and compelled him to clear his name. However, the High Court presided over by Justice Eric Baah held that Anas Aremeyaw Anas failed to prove that Ken Agyapong defamed him by airing the documentary.
In the court’s view, the documentary in question rather exposed shady deals that Anas and his associates were involved in.
In a lengthy ruling, the court said that Agyapong provided sufficient evidence to prove that the Anas used the findings of his work to solicit money from persons implicated in the evidence gathered in his investigations.
It added that evidence also proved that those who were able to pay the sums of money demanded by Anas and his associates got exempted from videos that were shown to the public.
Pulse
