Kasapa's MD Resigns

The managing director of Ghanaian mobile operator Kasapa Telecom, Bob Palitz, is stepping down from the role after nine years in office. In an interview with local press agency Joy Online, Mr Palitz said he believed he had contributed his quota to the company and that it is time to move on. The resignation comes approximately 18 months after Kasapa was acquired by Dubai-based Expresso Telecoms.

‘I’m getting on…and looking for new challenges and I know that the incredible team of Ghanaian managers and staff, some of whom were already there, some of whom joined us after I came [to] Kasapa, know the meaning of operating with integrity and transparently and professionally and I have every confidence they would continue to do that regardless of what happens after I have gone,’ Palitz said.

The announcement was made less than a week after Palitz’s firm reported success in the long-running Kludjeson court appeal. On 4 February Kasapa issued a press release noting that the Court of Appeal had reversed, by a unanimous decision, the 25 April 2007 ruling of the Accra Fast Track High Court, in the case of Kludjeson International Limited versus Robert N. Palitz, Lung Hien Ching (Kasapa’s former CFO), Trustee Services Limited (Kasapa’s former company secretary) and the Attorney General. The court awarded costs to each of the first three defendants.

Kasapa Wins Appeal In Kludjeson Case

Ghanaian CDMA operator Kasapa Telecom yesterday issued a press release noting that the Court of Appeal has reversed, by a unanimous decision, the 25 April 2007 ruling of the Accra Fast Track High Court, in the case of Kludjeson International Limited versus Robert N. Palitz (Kasapa’s managing director), Lung Hien Ching (Kasapa’s former CFO), Trustee Services Limited (Kasapa’s former company secretary) and the Attorney General.

In its ruling, the Court of Appeal upheld each of the eleven grounds of appeal, and, significantly, adjudged that Mr Palitz, Mr Lung, and Trustee Services had all been properly appointed to their respective positions, and that all actions taken, including the change of company name from ‘Celltel’ to ‘Kasapa’ and the acceptance of a shareholder loan, were properly done and completely valid. The court awarded costs to each of the first three defendants.

Back in May 2007 Kasapa Telecom strenuously refuted the Accra Fast Track High Court ruling that the appointment of its managing director and chief financial officer, was done inappropriately and that the name of the company should be changed back to its original name, Celltel.

At the time it published a press release titled ‘The Facts of the Matter’, in which it said it was vital that it responded to the ‘deliberate and malicious spread of misinformation about the judgement of the High Court on 25 April 2007 in the case of Kludjeson International Limited (KIL) vs Robert Palitz and 3 others’.