Businessman Nana Kwame Bediako, widely known as Cheddar, has asked the High Court in London to set aside a US$14.9 million judgment obtained by Cola Holdings, alleging that the case depended on a forged deed of indemnity.
Bediako claims the Cola family used documents “secured by fraud” to enforce the judgment, The Times reported on Sunday, November 8.
The disputed deed is dated January 18, 2018, and is said by Cola Holdings to require Bediako to repay his share of a loan. It contains a signature recorded as having been witnessed by his executive assistant at the time.
However, Bediako’s court filing says he was in Nigeria on that date. It alleges that an electronic copy of his signature may have been used without his knowledge or consent.
Cola Holdings is the Cola family’s London-based hotel and property business, which owns the St Regis hotel in Mayfair, formerly known as the Westbury. Its managing director, Azad Cola, is Bediako’s business partner in Ghana.
The pair began working together around 2009 on No. 1 Oxford Street, a 108-unit serviced apartment development in Osu, Accra. They own its developer, Kensington Residential Partners 1 Ltd (KRP 1), in equal shares.
The project was partly financed by an US$18 million loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private-sector arm. The Times reported that the Cola family arranged the loan.
No. 1 Oxford Street opened in December 2019. Its management has said the building was unable to generate enough business to service the loan after the onset of Covid-19, prompting the IFC to call in the facility in April 2023.
Cola Holdings says it guaranteed the loan, repaid it and assumed the IFC’s interest. It argues that Bediako is liable for his portion under the deed of indemnity.
The English court entered judgment against Bediako personally on January 23, 2025, ordering him to pay US$14,928,314.70, with interest accruing at 8 per cent a year.
Bediako disputes the claim. “I have not contracted any loan from Cola Holdings Ltd, and Cola Holdings Ltd has not paid any money to me,” he said in a statement in January.
He has also said the judgment was entered after the UK lawyers he instructed “did not file any processes in defence to the action”.
The dispute has extended to Ghana, where Bediako argues that Cola Holdings failed to disclose proceedings against KRP 1 in Accra concerning the same debt. He described that omission as a “fraudulent misrepresentation” intended to enable “multiple recoveries of the same debt against different persons”.
Ghanaian courts have so far permitted enforcement of the judgment. It was registered in Ghana on May 20, 2025, while the High Court’s Commercial Division rejected an application to cancel the registration on November 27, 2025.
On July 27, 2026, Justice Doris Awuah Dabanka-Bekoe refused Bediako’s request to suspend enforcement pending his appeal and ordered him to pay GH¢20,000 in costs.
A court-appointed receiver, Nii Amanor Dodoo, took possession of the building with police assistance on July 23. On August 21, Justice John-Mark Nuku Alifo overturned that takeover, ruling that it breached Court of Appeal rules, and directed that the property be returned to KRP 1. The receiver and Cola Holdings have appealed against that decision.
The Times reported that No. 1 Oxford Street has since closed, with a notice stating that reservations were not being accepted because of circumstances beyond its control.
Bediako leads the Kwarleyz Group and founded the New Force movement. He contested the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate.
