A glass factory located at Tse-Ado, a suburb of Accra; and a set of apartments built and owned by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas is set to be demolished by court order.
A court recently ruled that the journalist had proceeded with construction on a disputed land despite a court order asking him to put the project on hold until the land dispute is resolved.
Following a final judgment on the land which didn’t go in favour of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the land owner, one Adolf Tetteh Adjei is set to pull down the structures and projects of Anas on the site.
The judge who presided over the land case, Justice Kwame Gyamfi Osei, awarded GHC100,000 to Adolf Tetteh Adjei saying the land owner should use the amount for demolition instead of Anas Aremeyaw Anas doing the demolition himself.
Following the ruling, Anas Aremeyaw Anas is said to have made several attempts to now negotiate with the land owner and pay for the full cost of the land so that his factory and apartments are not pulled down.
However, Adolf Tetteh Adjei has said he is not interested in selling the land to Anas after the journalist used land guards and police to terrorize him for many years before he proceeded to court.
Sources told MyNewsGh.com the Glass Factory is a project Anas Aremeyaw Anas reportedly collaborated with some Chinese investors to construct at a time the land was in dispute.
According to court records, Anas Aremeyaw Anas used land guards and police to continue to build despite the land being a subject of a court litigation for which a stay was imposed subject to the conclusion of the case.
Background
On May 4th this year, a high Court in Accra after more than 5 years of hearing fined Anas Aremeyaw Anas Ghs100,000 for land-grabbing, unlawful tresspassing and use of land guards to intimidate a legitimate land owner, which is the said Adolf Tetteh Adjei.
The dispute was about a 2 acre disputed land at Tse-Ado taken over by Anas Aremeyaw Anas in 2017. The court found Anas liable for tresspassing and illegally building on someone’s land “using police and land guards day and night to brazenly deny Plaintiff from use of the land”.
In his defense, Anas told the court the said Adolf Tetteh’s claim of ownership of the land “was tainted by fraud”.
The court after examination of all of the facts concluded that “The law would not permit anyone to allege fraud without proving same beyond reasonable doubt. One would also not be permitted to win the sympathy of the court by alleging fraud against his adversary without proving same beyond reasonable doubt.”
The land owner, the said Adolf Tetteh said the disputed parcel of land is covered by Land Title Certificate No. GA. 464555 and dated 26 February 2015 and added a copy of the Title Certificate and the indenture covering the land to the court.
Adolf Tetteh informed the court his Sub-lessor has also always been in effective possession of the land and had registered it in 2007 under Land Title
Certificate No. GA26393. The Sub-lessor also acquired the land with Title Certificate No. GA 19310 with photocopies of the said Land Title Certificate No. GA 19310 and Land Title Certificate No. GA 25462 all presented in court.
Adolf Tetteh said Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ claim of customary grant of the land to him by a certain Ga family was “a merely a ploy to deceive the court”.
The Plaintiff told the court that Anas showed up one day and “caused a signpost to be erected on the land with the inscription “Tiger Eye Property. Keep off” and also employed the services of land guards to purportedly provide security for his unlawful construction works.”
