Deborah Seyram: High court slaps side chick with GHS6,000

An Accra High Court has removed the name of First Atlantic Bank from the suit filed by a former National Service personnel at the bank who alleged sexual harassment by a top official of the bank. The court has also awarded a cost of GHS6,000 against the plaintiff Deborah Sayram Adablah after the bank’s lawyers demanded GHS50,000 in cost.

 Justice Olivia Obeng Owusu who presided over the court on Friday, July 21, 2023, struck out the name of the bank from the case. The main case is still pending due to several interim applications filed by both parties. Deborah Seyram’s lawyers filed an interim application asking the court to set aside the court’s earlier decision that ordered her to hand over the keys of the vehicle mentioned in the suit to the court’s registry.

Background of the suit by Deborah Seyram

On January 23, 2023, Deborah Seyram Adablah, a former NSS person at the head office of the First Atlantic bank filed a suit against one Ernest Kwasi Nimako, the Chief Finance Officer of the bank. She alleged in the suit that she was sexually harassed while doing her National Service at the bank headquarters in 2020. She eventually gave in and started a parlor relationship with Mr Nimako.

Miss Seyram alleged that Mr Nimako persuaded her to reject a contract offer from the bank after the end of her service with the promise of paying her a GHS3,000.00 monthly allowance. Also, she said he promised to secure accommodation for three years for her and buy her a car before he would then marry her later after he divorced his wife whom he said their relationship had gone bad beyond fixing.

According to her, Mr Nimako had defaulted on his promises of allowance payment. The bank was added as a co-defendant because the plaintiff alleged that while the harassment and abuse of female staff were ongoing at the bank, the top executives of the bank were all aware but did nothing to stop it or protect the females.