Enquirer Dodges Bailiff

A Bailiff of the High Court�s Financial Division was treated to a dose of hide-and-seek by the staff of Raymond Archer�s Focal Media Limited, publishers of Enquirer newspaper, when he went to the newspaper house to drop a court contempt notice against the editor and the establishment. According the bailiff, Fred, the secretary of the Editor told him that she was a receptionist, thus she could not receive the document on his behalf. �I told her that anyone in the establishment can receive the document on behalf of the publisher. We were compelled to therefore throw the court order on them and leave�, he said. A lawyer�s clerk who accompanied him to the Tesano office of the Enquirer said the secretary told them the Editor, Raymond Archer, was not available at the time. A journalist he identified as Larry Dogbe told them that it was only the secretary who could receive the court notice.According to him, the secretary refused to receive the document saying that she is a receptionist, not a secretary. She then explained that there was once a secretary who received a similar document and was sacked by Mr. Archer. Raymond Archer and Focal Media Limited are being notified about an order for committal for contempt of court by Akwasi Osei-Adjei and Anor.The applicant, Akwasi Osei-Adjei, one-time Foreign Affairs Minister, in an affidavit to support his position, recalled how the Enquirer, of which Mr. Acher is Editor, published in the newspaper of November 25, 2009 under the headline, �Ricemasters Trial Bombshell�, contents of which he avers were calculated to pervert the course of justice and ultimately interfere with the due administration of justice by prejudging the merits of the criminal trial of the case. The headlines, he said, scurrilously described him as Ricemaster, making an assertion that he is making a secret move to pay off witnesses in the case. Continuing, the Editor, he noted, made a definite conclusion that he is attempting to �obstruct the case in court with the so-called quiet settlement�, and same has been met with stiff resistance by lawyers of Eland International. The foregone, including others, Akwasi Osei-Adjei concludes, render the respondents inexcusably liable for contempt of court and �I respectfully pray that punitive criminal sanctions ought to be inflicted on them in order to safeguard the fountains of justice�. Criminal proceedings were commenced against Akwasi Osei-Adjei and Daniel Charles Gyimah for their roles in the importation of 300,000 bags of rice into the country on October 13, 2009. On October 19, 2009 the trial began with Daniel Charles Gyimah calling four witnesses who were discharged after testifying.