The CEO of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr Alex Mould,and the Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Ato Ampiah have been cited in their personal capacities for contempt of court following their refusal to comply with court orders issued last year.
Alongside these two, the NPA and TOR as corporate entities, have also been cited as guilty parties.
The contempt charge will be heard on Wednesday June 27.
In November last year, an Accra High Court ordered both the NPA and TOR to pay the fuel margins they collected since June 2009 into the Consolidated Fund.
They were to refund an estimated GH�800 million of illegal fuel price margins disguised as �ex-refinery differential� into the Consolidated Fund, and also, to remove the illegal margins from the fuel price build up.
The applicants behind this committal for contempt are Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng, the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Obuasi, and a Tamale resident, Mr Abdul Ganiyu of Development Data, a policy research organization.
They are praying the High Court to punish Mr Mould and Mr Ampiah for willfully refusing to pay the amount accruing from the illegal charge into the Consolidated Fund, and also, for refusing to remove the �ex-refinery differential� from the fuel price build-up.
The applicants say these contemptuous conducts have brought the courts to public ridicule.
It would be recalled that on 28th November 2011, the High Court abolished the �ex-refinery differential� and ordered the NPA to refund the illegal amounts collected. The NPA applied for a stay of the execution of the High Court judgment, which application was refused.
The NPA proceeded to the Court of Appeal to repeat their stay of execution, which application was again refused.
But to date, the NPA and TOR have refused to carry out the orders and have claimed that the amounts collected are used for good purposes.
Plaintiffs have rejected this claim and raised concerns that the money could be entering people�s pockets because it is not subject to the financial controls that funds lodged into the Consolidated Fund are subject to.
If convicted, the two could face several years of imprisonment, whiles the two corporate entities, TOR and NPA, could pay heavy fines if found guilty.
Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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