Top King’s Judgment does not cover the current location of our estate- Trassacco speaks

The Empire Builders Limited, a real estate development Company and owners of Trassacco Valley Estates have indicated that the 62 Acres of land secured by Top kings Limited by court judgment does not cover the current location of the buildings in its estates.

The PR consultant of Empire Builders, Mr.Kwame Owusu Danso told Dennislaw News in an interview that Top Kings Limited has already developed their 62 acres of land, which is different from Trassacco Valley lands.

He further described as false claims reports that the Company has disobeyed a Supreme Court order not to interfere with “TOP KINGS TRASSACO LANDS.”

The Company has put forward the sequence of events which culminated in the Supreme Court judgment in the Civil Appeal No., J4/10/2019, entitled Empire Builders Limited vs. TopKings and 4 others;

1. On 24th June 1999, the Company issued a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim against TOP KINGS ENTERPRISE LIMITED (“TOP KINGS”) & 4 others for inter alia, a declaration of title to 456 acres of land.
   In its statement of defence, TOP KINGS claimed ownership of approximately 62 acres out of the 456 acres in relation to which our client sought for declaration of title.
2. In its judgment dated 11th June 2003 the High Court, Coram: His Lordship Justice Brobbey JSC (as he then was) sitting as additional High Court Judge held that TOP KINGS’ was to “keep the portion of the disputed land that is already in its possession”. The parcel referred to by the learned judge was made up of 22 acres, eight (8) acres and the 32 acres of the land in possession of TOP KINGS. So in effect, the entire parcel of land granted to TOP KINGS per the High Court judgment totaled 62 acres.
3. The High Court also entered judgment for the Lands Commission (3rd Co-Defendant) in respect of portions of the 456 acres of land the company was claiming. The Court reasoned that the parcel of land within the 456 acres decreed as belonging to the Lands Commission formed part of a large parcel of land acquired by the Government of Ghana for animal husbandry and road. The Court made additional orders that the Company was entitled to keep possession of the rest of the 456 acres. It is significant to state that following the delivery of the High Court judgment TOP KINGS took steps to dispose of or otherwise appropriated for its use and benefit the entire 62 acres which were decreed in its favor by the Court.
4. The Company appealed the High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal. In its judgment dated 18th December 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the High Court decreeing possession to TOP KINGS over the 62 acres it was in occupation of. The Court of Appeal further upheld the orders made in favor of the Lands Commission by the High Court. Additionally, the Court of Appeal set aside the order for possession granted by the High Court in favor of the Company on the basis that it failed to amend its writ of summons to include an order for possession pursuant to leave granted by the High Court.
5. The Company further appealed the Court of Appeal’s judgment to the Supreme Court. In its judgment dated 16th December 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal order setting aside the grant of possession to our client in respect of the parcel of lands not granted to TOPKINGS and the Lands Commission by the High Court judge.
6. By a Lease dated 12th August 2010, the Government of Ghana released to the Nungua Stool 974.53 acres of land which previously formed part of a large parcel of land, the subject of a government acquisition per the Certificate of Title dated 7th day of March 1940. A portion of the vast parcel of land released to the Nungua Stool was used for Nungua Farms and Animal Husbandry.
7. Significantly, the piece of land decreed in favor of the Lands Commission per the High Court judgment formed part of the total parcel of land released by the Government of Ghana in 2010 to the Nungua Stool. The Nungua Stool subsequently transferred approximately 62 acres of the land, the subject matter of its Lease Agreement with the Government of Ghana dated 12th August 2010 to the Company for valuable consideration. Additionally, the Lands Commission transferred a total of 57 acres of the parcel decreed in its favor to the Company.
8. The owners of Trassacco Valley are of the believe that Top Kings is misinterpreting the judgment of the court.
9. The Company therefore advises that all future communications on the matter must be based on accurate and verified facts in order not to mislead the general public.