Ghanaian businessman and 2024 presidential candidate Nana Kwame Bediako has issued a detailed response to a US$14.9 million judgment debt arising from a ruling by a court in the United Kingdom, as efforts are underway to enforce the judgment in Ghana.
In a statement released on Thursday, Mr Bediako said the matter remains subject to ongoing legal proceedings, pushing back against media reports that he described as incomplete or misleading.
At the centre of the dispute is a judgment obtained by Cola Holdings Limited, which Mr Bediako insists does not relate to any loan contracted by him in his personal capacity.
“I have not contracted any loan from Cola Holdings Ltd, and no monies were paid to me personally,” he said.
Disputed loan arrangement
Mr Bediako explained that the transaction in question involves a loan contracted by Kensington Residential Partners 1 Limited (KRP 1) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). He said KRP 1 is jointly owned by himself and Azad Cola, the principal of Cola Holdings Limited.
According to Mr Bediako, he was therefore surprised when Cola Holdings initiated legal proceedings against him personally in the United Kingdom, rather than pursuing claims against the company that contracted the loan.
He further disclosed that a judgment was entered against him after lawyers he had retained in the UK failed to file defence documents, resulting in a default ruling.
Challenge to enforcement in Ghana
Following the registration of the UK judgment in Ghana, Mr Bediako said he instructed his legal team to oppose its enforcement, arguing that the ruling was obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation and that enforcing it would run contrary to Ghana’s public policy.
While a High Court in Ghana declined to set aside the registration of the foreign judgment, he confirmed that an appeal has been filed, alongside applications aimed at suspending enforcement pending the outcome of all legal challenges.
Allegations of abuse of process
Mr Bediako also accused Cola Holdings of abusing judicial processes, alleging that the company failed to inform the UK court of separate legal proceedings already underway in Ghana against KRP 1 over the same debt.
He argued that the alleged non-disclosure of this material information misled the UK court into granting judgment against him personally.
Political and business implications
The case has attracted significant public attention, given Mr Bediako’s profile as a business magnate and former presidential candidate, and comes amid broader scrutiny of cross-border debt enforcement and corporate governance in Ghana.
Legal analysts say the outcome of the appeals could have implications for how foreign judgments are enforced in Ghana, particularly in cases involving corporate entities and individual shareholders.
For now, Mr Bediako maintains that the legal process is far from concluded.
