First Atlantic Bank has responded to the controversial suit by a former national service personnel of the bank, seeking damages and other reliefs against a director of the bank over alleged sexual harassment and breach of contract.
The bank was joined as the second defendant in the legal suit filed at an Accra High Court on January 23, but it is asking the court to exclude it from the case.
One Deborah Seyram Adablah, who worked with the financial institution from 2020 to 2021, accused the bank’s Chief Finance Officer, Ernest Kwasi Nimako, of engaging in an illicit sexual relationship with her.
The bank manager was also accused of failing to comply with a said relationship arrangement with the former NSS worker.
She joined the First Atlantic Bank for allegedly condoning molestation of female employees by their superiors and luring them into “unholy and unhealthy” sexual relationship.
The plaintiff alleged that the First Atlantic Bank, as her employer, owed her a duty of care which it failed her, and worst still, the 2nd Defendant also “pushed her to reach out to male customers to bait them with sex in exchange of opening accounts with the bank”.
Deborah further alleged that she was not the only victim of the unhealthy sexual relationship at the bank.
“Plaintiff avers that, when she started working with the 2nd Defendant bank, she observed persistent sexual harassment by senior male officers against female workers of the bank and if you failed to give in to their demands, your life in the bank is made unhappy, uncomfortable and unfriendly to work in. Plaintiff avers that, virtually every senior manager has a girlfriend in the bank and they change the ladies at their will to the knowledge of the managers of the 2nd Defendant bank. They also use we the female staff to make advances to very rich customers with a view to sleeping with them and getting them to open accounts with the bank to the detriments of the female staffs,” a portion of her suit read.
First Atlantic Bank has since requested that the writ be reviewed in order to exclude it from the case. This is according to a 3news.com report.
In an application dated January 24, the report said, First Atlantic Bank requested that some paragraphs of the writ be dismissed “on the ground that they disclose no reasonable cause of action against the applicant”.
The paragraphs 7,8,9,10,11,31,32,33,34,36 and 37 which were requested to be excluded comprise portions of the writ that accuse the bank of watching on for female workers to be harassed sexually by senior male officers of the bank.
What the Plaintiff wants from Mr. Nimako
Deborah Adablah is praying the court to order the 1st defendant to transfer title of a car No. GC -7899-21 into her name as the owner.
An order that the first defendant pays lump sum money to the plaintiff to enable the plaintiff start a business to take care of herself as agreed by the then lovers.
The 1st Defendant pays the remaining two years rent for Plaintiff’s accommodation or to pay same amount for the remaining two years at the same rate at an alternative accommodation.
She also wants the first defendant to pay the outstanding arrears of plaintiff’s monthly allowance from July 2022 to the date of Judgment and pay all medical expenses as a result of the side effects of the Family Planning treatment as well as general damages against the defendants among others.
The court will be moved on Thursday, February 16 to hear the case.
Read also: CFO of First Atlantic Bank in trouble over sexual affair with service personnel