Barely a day after his sentence, the Editor of The Herald newspaper, Larry Dogbey, has been granted bail. The announcement was made at the Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Isaac Addo, through a formal court ruling that set bail conditions.

He was sentenced to seven days' imprisonment on Thursday, June 25, after being found guilty of contempt of court for breaching an injunction order in a case involving businessman Kevin Okyere and Swiss oil trader Petraco SA.

Background

It all started on June 11, 2025, when the High Court issued an interlocutory injunction restraining The Herald from publishing material on Kevin Okyere pending trial.

Kevin Okyere is a Ghanaian oil and gas entrepreneur, best known as the Founder and CEO of Springfield Group, the first indigenous Ghanaian company to drill for oil in deepwater offshore fields.

About four months later, around October that same year, the Ghanaian Times published the injunction, which was served via substituted service, including WhatsApp delivery. However, despite the court exhausting all channels for the notice to reach The Herald newspaper, the media house went ahead and published multiple articles alleging fraud and legal troubles involving Mr Okyere, including claims of arrest warrants and bail in Dubai.

According to the court, the editor purposely disregarded the injunction order and was consequently sentenced in order to preserve the dignity and authority of the judiciary, while the judge stressed that press freedom was not an excuse for disregarding court orders.

The court also slammed the media house for damage to reputation linked to its choice of words, such as "fraud albatross", adopted in the publication about Mr Okyere.