Supreme Court dismisses Exton Cubic case against High Court

The Supreme Court has filed in a mining case the company Exton Cubic, which sought to challenge the jurisdiction of a high court in a decision denying them compensation for the seizure of its mining equipment.

Exton Cubic wanted the Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the Kumasi High Court not to award him compensation for the seizure of his equipment by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah.

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In June 2018, the Kumasi High Court, presided over by Judge George Addai Kwofa, filed the case of the mining company on the grounds that its mining lease had not been ratified by Parliament.

However, the company's lawyers filed an application for certiorari in the Supreme Court, arguing that the High Court did not have jurisdiction to interpret Article 268 (1), which concerns the ratification of contracts by Parliament.

They argued that the High Court should have referred the case to the Supreme Court for interpretation.

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Interpretation

But in a unanimous decision of Tuesday, January 22, 2019, a five-member panel found that Exton's motion was unfounded, as the Supreme Court had already interpreted Clause 268, clause 1.

The High Court, she said, applied only the interpretation already given by the Supreme Court.

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The commission was chaired by Judge Sophia Adinyera, with judges Anin Yeboah, Sule Gbagbegbe, Samuel Marful-Sau and Professor Nii Ashie Kotey.

Context

In September 2017, Mr. Osei-Mensah ordered the police to seize eight trucks, a crawler generator and two container offices belonging to Engineers and Planners, subcontracted by Exton Cubic Group for the exploration of bauxite on the reserve. forest of Tano-Offin.

During the seizure, the company insisted on obtaining legal authorization from the government to work in the forest reserve.

However, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. John Peter Amewu, later explained that the company had not complied with the legal requirements and that his lease was therefore invalid.

He argued that the failure to obtain environmental and operational permits, as well as the various statutory offenses that led to the alleged granting of the three mining leases to the company, made the leases supposedly void and ineffective.