By Lamin Njie
Businessman Alasan Ceesay has been ruled personally responsible for 19.2 million dalasis owed to food import giant EMKAY Stores.
EMKAY Stores dragged Ceesay and his Rahma Gambia Ltd to court last year over a 19.2 million dalasis debt. Ceesay and his company Rahma Gambia Limited took thousands of drums of oil and thousands of bags of USA and Pakistani broken rice from EM KAY Stores worth 21,210,000 dalasis but failed to pay within two weeks of taking delivery of any consignment, a complaint by lawyers for EM KAY Stores said last year.
The lawsuit was based on an agreement that was struck on June 4, 2020 between Ceesay, his Rahma company and EM KAY Stores which saw an advance payment of two million dalasi by Ceesay and his company referred in the agreement as the ‘Traders’.
Lawyers for EMKAY Stories filed their lawsuit against the businessman and his company in August of last year.
And in a December 8, 2020 ruling and judgment, Ceesay was held personally liable for the 19.2 million dalasis debt.
Ceesay’s lawyers on October 15, 2020 filed a motion before the high court asking the court to strike the case out for want of competence – where Ceesay’s name would be removed from the case because he was not a party to the agreement in his personal capacity. They insisted it’s Rahma Gambia Ltd that is a party.
But in a December 8, 2020 ruling and judgment, Justice Zainab Jawara Alami ruled Ceesay personally liable for the massive debt.
“I believe that the directing mind of the company (Rahma Gambia Ltd) is the 1st defendant (Alasan Ceesay) and he is also liable in this matter, the parties are properly before the court and there is no misjoinder,” Alami ruled. She has earlier held the nature and size of Rahma Gambia Ltd and the manner Ceesay transacted on its behalf is a proper case to ‘disregard’ the separate corporate personality legal principle.
In her judgment, Alami said: “Judgment is entered in the sum of D19,210,000 being the price of goods sold and supplied by the plaintiff to the defendants on credit at the request of the 1st defendant (Alasan Ceesay).
“Interest is awarded at the statutory rate of 4% from the date of judgment until date of payment.”
The judge awarded legal cost of D500,000 to be paid to EMKAY Stories.
The Fatu Network has gathered EMKAY Stories has still not been paid back its money nearly two months of the judgment.
