Kevin Taylor Dares Gabby After GHC 1 million “Kangaroo Court” Judgment

Investigative journalist, Kevin Ekow Taylor has dared President Akufo Addo’s cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko to prove that revealing exposition on him does not implicate him as the brain behind the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Scandal.

In a conversation with Whatsup News after an Accra High Court slapped a GHC 1 million damages against him in a defamatory filed by Gabby Asare Otchere Darko. 

The Accra High Court (Commercial Court 10), presided over by Justice Jennifer Abena Dadzie, awarded damages over revelations he made against Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the Senior Partner of, Africa Legal Associates (ALA) a kitchen cabinet advisor to President Akufo Addo.

Mr. Taylor had been scathing in his revelations that Mr. Otchere-Darko was the main kingpin in the US$ 500 million PDS scandal that fraudulently tried to seize control of the Electricity Company of Ghana.

Kevin Taylor had released WhatsApp group communication “Thriller In Manilla and tape recordings of voices believed to be that of Mr. Otchere-Darko providing impetus to claims that he [Otchere-Darko] was the main culprit in the PDS scandal, but has worked in the background using fronts such as Philip Ayensu, the Chief Executive Officer of PDS.

Kevin Taylor also accused Mr Otchere-Darko of owning a property in the expensive neighbourhood of London, Mayfair using pilfered public funds.

 In October 2019, Gabby Otchere-Darko sued Kevin Taylor on alleged defamatory statements made on Kevin Taylor’s social media broadcast, “With All Due Respect” and on his Facebook Wall.

 The court was unable to serve Kevin Taylor with the suit and therefore pronounced judgment in his absence.

The PDS deal fell through late 2019 when it was exposed for presenting fraudulent insurance security of almost US$500 million to take over the management of ECG.

On October 23, 2019, ECG took back the operation of the state electricity company. However, the whereabouts of revenues from electricity bills collected by PDS since March 1, 2019, have remained a huge mystery that the NDC hopes to unravel.

The management of ECG was on March 1, 2019, taken over PDS following a US$ 500 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) power compact agreement with the government of Ghana.

The arrangement required the private companies comprising Filipino Meralco Energy and a consortium of three indigenous Ghanaian companies were to inject management efficiency into the badly performing ECG.

The compact required PDS to raise an additional US$ 490 million. However, even though PDS was given preferential treatment to allow it to secure the funds, it turned out that the payment guarantee secured as their part of the deal was acquired fraudulently.

With the rapid exposé, the Akufo Addo administration was forced to suspend the contract of PDS in July 2019. On October 18, 2019, the government officially announced the termination of its power concession agreement with PDS in a statement issued by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.