Prof. Frimpong-Boateng Sues Student, Captain Smart For Defamation
Renowned heart surgeon, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has initiated a legal action against a Colorado-based Ghanaian engineering student, one Solomon K. A. Owusu before an Accra High.
Also cited in the said suit for defamation is Blessed Nana Godsbrain Smart alias Captain Smart, a television personality and administrator of WhatSapp platform group, “Kill Corruption Now”.
Per a witness statement in pursuant of a previous the writ of summon filed before the Accra High Court (Commercial Division 8) on February 12, 2021 which is collaborated by a hearing notice, the plaintiff former Minister of Environment, Science and Technology is seeking to move the court on February 16, 2021 to hear the case.
The former chairman of the Inter Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining (IMCIM) appointed to bring sanity into artisanal gold mining, launch Operation Vanguard and to prevent further pollution of water bodies and land degradation claimed that various defamatory statements published by the defendants have gravely damaged his reputation and this lowered his estimation in the eyes of the right thinking members of the public.
He said several defamatory statements in which the plaintiff was described as “greedy” and emphasized that the plaintiff and his son were involved in illegal mining spanned the period between March 2018 and February 2019.
The plaintiff stated that the said statements widely published on various news outlets were posted on “Kill Corruption Now” and on a television programme without restraint by Captain Smart on his WhatSapp platform to the effect that he (Prof. Frimpong-Boateng) and his son were deeply involved in illegal mining (galamsey) by partnering with foreign nationals to illegally extract minerals in Ghana.
Among the allegations were that Prof. Frimpong-Boateng and Charles Bissue as his secretary on the committee were dealing with Chinese nationals in operating illegal mining amid a presidential ban and thus causing the muddy nature of water bodies in the face of alleged lies to the President.
The plaintiff’s statement mentioned the Daily Statesman newspaper, Citinewsroom.com; myjoyonline.com; theworldnews.com and social media platforms as the news outlets which spread the defamatory statements of the defendants against him.
The Plaintiff avers that the said publications which imputed that he was corrupt, a criminal and thus condoned illegal mining activities, were maliciously calculated to injure his reputation without justification on the with a global circulation because of the connectivity on the Internet.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng is therefore seeking punitive and exemplary damages against the defendants when the court is moved on Tuesday February 16, 2021. E N D.