Sexual Harassment Case: Court Strikes out First Atlantic Bank Name
In a recent development in the First Atlantic Bank sexual harassment case, the High Court in a ruling delivered by Justice Olivia Obeng Owusu on Friday, July 21, struck out the bank’s name from the case and awarded a cost of GH¢6,000 against Deborah Seyram Adablah.
Seyram Adablah, a former First Atlantic Bank National service personnel who filed the lawsuit against the bank’s former Chief Finance officer for sexual harassment, had her case challenged by the bank’s lawyers.
Earlier, the lawyers for First Atlantic Bank had requested the court to award damages to the tune of GH¢50,000. However, the counsel for Seyram Adablah pleaded with the court to reduce the amount to GH¢5,000.
The court has yet to hear the substantive case of sexual harassment, as it has been postponed due to several interim applications.
Among these applications is one filed by the lawyers of Seyram Adablah, asking the court to set aside an earlier order that required her to hand over a Honda Civic vehicle to the court’s registry.
On the other hand, the former Chief Finance Officer, Ernest Kwasi Nimako, has also filed an interim application to have Seyram Adablah held in contempt and committed to prison.
The background of the case reveals that Seyram Adablah’s suit, filed on January 23, 2023, alleges that Ernest Kwasi Nimako, whom she refers to as her “sugar daddy,” made a series of promises to her.
These assurances included buying her a car, covering her accommodation expenses for three years, providing a monthly stipend of GH¢3,000, marrying her after divorcing his wife, and offering a lump sum to start a business.
She claims that he later took the car back, depriving her of its use after just a year. She also alleges that Nimako only paid for one year of accommodation, despite promising to cover three years.
In her plea to the court, Seyram Adablah seeks an order to have the car’s title transferred into her name and also demands the return of the car. Additionally, she asks the court to order Nimako to pay the lump sum agreed upon for starting a business and the outstanding two years’ accommodation as per their agreement.
