The High Court in Accra has dismissed an application by businessman Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Cheddar, seeking to restrain UK-based Cola Holdings Limited from enforcing a US$14.9 million judgment against him.
The Commercial Division of the High Court, presided over by Justice Doris Awuah Dabanka-Bekoe, also awarded GH¢20,000 in costs against Mr Bediako.
The application, filed by his lawyer Bobby Banson, sought to prevent Cola Holdings from enforcing a judgment of the High Court of England and Wales pending the determination of an appeal against an earlier decision refusing to set aside the registration of the judgment in Ghana.
Justice Dabanka-Bekoe dismissed the application on July 27, 2026.
The judgment, dated January 23, 2025, ordered Mr Bediako to pay US$14,928,314.70, together with interest at an annual rate of eight per cent.
The interest accrues at approximately US$3,271.96 per day from January 23, 2025, until the debt is fully settled.
The judgment was registered in Ghana on May 20, 2025, while an earlier application by Mr Bediako to set aside the registration was dismissed on November 27, 2025.
At a Treasury exchange rate of GH¢16.15 to the US dollar, the total amount, including interest and costs, was estimated at approximately GH¢258.76 million.
The dispute stems from a Deed of Indemnity signed by Mr Bediako in connection with his share of the repayment of a loan obtained from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Cola Holdings had guaranteed the loan to Kensington Residential Partners 1 Ltd, a company in which Mr Bediako and Azad Cola hold shares.
Following a default on the loan, the IFC called on Cola Holdings to honour the guarantee. The company subsequently settled the obligation and the IFC assigned its interest in the loan to Cola Holdings.
Cola Holdings then sought to recover from Mr Bediako the portion of the loan it said he was obligated to repay, eventually leading to proceedings before the High Court in London.
Mr Bediako has maintained that the matter concerns a corporate loan rather than a personal obligation and has challenged the manner in which the judgment was obtained.
Court’s reasoning
In dismissing the latest application, Justice Dabanka-Bekoe applied established principles governing applications for a stay of execution pending an appeal.
The court found that the grounds relied upon by Mr Bediako, including arguments concerning the currency of the debt, the applicable interest rate and alleged violations of public policy, did not raise sufficiently arguable points of substance to justify the injunctive relief being sought.
The court also rejected Mr Bediako’s claim that Cola Holdings had no traceable assets in Ghana.
According to the ruling, Cola Holdings had exhibited documents showing registered security interests in assets in Ghana, including a certificate of registration of a mortgage from the Registrar of Companies and a memorandum of registration of mortgage from the Lands Commission.
The court noted that the same documents had previously been exhibited by Mr Bediako in his own application challenging the registration of the English judgment.
Justice Dabanka-Bekoe consequently described the assertion that Cola Holdings had no traceable assets in Ghana as being “demonstrably at odds with the record.”
GH¢20,000 costs
The court subsequently awarded GH¢20,000 in costs against Mr Bediako.
However, the judge declined to impose punitive costs, noting that a litigant is entitled to challenge a ruling through an appeal and seek protection pending the determination of that appeal.
The latest ruling comes amid continuing efforts by Cola Holdings to enforce the judgment against Mr Bediako and assets linked to him in Ghana.
It follows a separate High Court decision on July 21, 2026, which granted Cola Holdings and its receiver police assistance to take possession of the No. 1 Oxford Street Hotel in Osu.
The court in that matter found that Cola Holdings had properly registered its security interest over the property and was entitled to enforce its rights under the Borrowers and Lenders Act, 2020 (Act 1052).