Nana Kwame Bediako, known as Cheddar, says his business partner Azad Cola’s move to seize their jointly owned No. 1 Oxford Street Hotel rests on Cola’s claim that he personally paid off a loan the two of them owed on the building.
The hotel, developed by their jointly-owned company Kensington Residential Partners 1 Limited (KRP1), was built partly with a loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) but they struggled to keep up with the loan payments when Covid-19 hit after the hotel opened in December 2019.
While KRP1 was trying to renegotiate the loan terms with IFC, Cola, through his own company, Cola Holdings Ltd, told them he had repaid the loan in full out of his own pocket and demanded that KRP1 pays him back.
But Bediako, also known as Freedom Jacob Caesar, and KRP1 management insist Cola didn’t have the right to make that move on his own. As a director of the company, they argue, Cola had a duty to tell KRP1 and get its approval before repaying the loan and turning it into a personal claim against the company.
They also say Cola has never produced any proof that he actually paid off the loan, not to KRP1, and not in court.
Despite these objections, the High Court of England and Wales, in January 2025, ordered Bediako to pay Cola Holdings more than US$14.9 million plus interest and costs. Cola then moved to seize the Accra hotel to enforce that judgment, and on July 21, 2026, an Accra court granted his appointed Receiver in Ghana, Nii Amanor Dodoo, police assistance for the takeover.
But Nana Kwame Bediako and the management of the hotel, in a press release issued Thursday, July 23, 2026, said they have filed an appeal against the Accra High Court order.
They say they have instructed their lawyers to challenge the court’s decision and have filed an appeal together with applications seeking interim relief pending the determination of the appeal.
According to them, the High Court order on July 21 is not yet enforceable because the period prescribed under the applicable court rules has not expired.
Management further mentioned in the statement that the hotel is still under their control.
