The Multimedia Group Limited, operators of Joy FM, Adom TV, Joy News, myjoyonline.com among a host of others, say they regret publishing a defamatory story against former CEO of COCOBOD, Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni.
The media conglomerate had to retract and render an unqualified apology to Dr. Opuni, a surgeon of international repute, after it made available one of its platforms to a politician to malign the former COCOBOD boss.
The Eastern Region Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Kwadwo Boateng Agyemang, on 23rd July 2019 during the “Badwam” Show on Adom TV accused Dr. Opuni of embezzling $400 million whilst in office.
Dr. Opuni felt the comments were to whip up public sentiments against him and to portray him as an “unfit person with a loose and disreputable character”.
Claiming the comments have seriously injured his reputation and made him a subject of public ridicule, scandal and contempt, he sued the media house and Kwadwo Boateng Agyemang.
Dr. Opuni is seeking general damages as well as exemplary damages of GH¢20 million against the defendants, a retraction and apology on Adom TV and its online platform with the sane prominence given to the alleged defamatory statement.
He is also seeking an order for perpetual injunction against the defendants either by themselves or their agents and assigns as well as cost, inclusive of his lawyer’s fees.
But as the case progresses in court and gauging the trajectory, the Multimedia Group were compelled to apologise to the plaintiff.
“MULTIMEDIA hereby completely, unconditionally and unreservedly retract the statements made against Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni by Kwadwo Boateng Agyemang on Adom TV and unreservedly apologize to Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni for any harm, damage or injury caused to his hard-won reputation,” a statement issued by management of the media group said on Saturday, October 24, 2020.
The apology comes barely four months after the Multimedia Group Limited apologized to Dr. Opuni after Ghanaian actor, Lil Win defamed the former COCOBOD boss on his popular TV show ‘Don’t Think Far News’ on Adom TV.
Find the company’s latest apology below
By Multimedia Group Limited
Kwadwo Boateng Agyemang, the Eastern Region Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, on 23rd July 2019 during the “Badwam” Show on Adom TV stated that Dr. Stephen Opuni, a former CEO of COCOBOD, “withdrew almost $400 million…[and] used part of the money to organize a press soiree and to construct cocoa roads that have been taken away by dwarfs.”
MULTIMEDIA GROUP LIMITED, OWNERS AND OPERATORS of Adom TV cannot confirm the veracity of these allegations and regret that Adom TV published and publicised these unsubstantiated allegations.
MULTIMEDIA hereby completely, unconditionally and unreservedly retract the statements made against Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni by Kwadwo Boateng Agyemang on Adom TV and unreservedly apologize to Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni for any harm, damage or injury caused to his hard-won reputation.
Signed
Abdulai Awudu, General Manager – Adom media – Multimedia Group Limited
