The recipient of the disappeared uniBank can not sue in his name; Rules of the High Court

General News of Thursday, July 11, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-07-11

Nii Amanor Dodoo, the escrow of the late UniBank, does not have the ability to initiate legal proceedings on his behalf against the bank's shareholders, ruled the High Court in Accra. As a result, the court dismissed an action brought by the receiver to report 16 shareholders of the bank guilty of breaching their fiduciary duties, leading to the bankruptcy of the bank.

According to the court ruling, chaired by Judge Jennifer Dadzie, although Nii Dodoo has the power to manage the bank's badets and act in the bank's interest, all the actions that 39 he undertakes, including the launching of a lawsuit, should be: done on behalf of the bank and not on his behalf.

According to the court, the 2016 Law on Banks and Specialized Deposit Institutions (Law 930), which governs the banking sector, gives the recipient the power to take legal action on his behalf.

In addition, the court found that the letter from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) appointing Nii Dodoo as UniBank's receiver also did not give him the power to take legal action on his behalf.

"Therefore, I submit that the appointment of the plaintiff (Nii Dodoo) as receiver does not deprive UniBank of ownership of its badets, nor does it confer on the plaintiff the right to establish the right to introduce the present appeal on his behalf.

"I therefore consider that the lawsuit having been brought in the name of Nii Amanor Dodoo, the writ of summons is defective and void," said Judge Dadzie.

Arbitration should continue

Although the proceedings resulting from the lawsuit were declared null and void, the court gave the green light to an arbitration proceeding to determine whether or not the revocation of uniBank was lawful.

As a result, it dismissed an injunction from the Receiver seeking to stop the arbitration with a view to filing a counterclaim against the shareholders contesting the appointment of Nii Dodoo as receiver and the revocation of the UniBank license by the BoG. .

"Accordingly, the said summons and all proceedings arising therefrom are declared null and void, with the exception of the order referring the issues in dispute to arbitration, which, in my opinion, concerns under Law 930 which must be settled by arbitration, "said Judge Dadzie.

Arbitration takes place before Judge Samuel Date-Bah, former Supreme Court Judge.

Suit and counterclaim

On September 4, 2018, the receiver of the uniBank Bank sued the 16 shareholders for alleged breach of their fiduciary duties as directors of the bank and to force the bank to incur a debt of $ 5.7 billion. GH ¢, which resulted in its collapse.

The complainant therefore asked the High Court to hold the 17 defendants jointly and severally liable for all damages suffered by uniBank Ghana Limited. He asked the court to obtain a debt recovery order of 5.7 billion GH ¢.

Nii Dodoo also asked the court to order shareholders to return all badets in their possession, acquired with funds from the bank.

Shareholders include Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, HODA Holdings Ltd., Properties Ltd., Integrated Properties Ltd., Alban Logistics Ltd., Starlife Assurance, Bolton Portfolio Ltd., and Dr. Kwabena Duffuor II.

The others are Opoku Gyamfi Boateng, Professor Newman Kwadwo-Kusi, Owusu Ansah Awere, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis, Boatemaa Kakra Duffour-Nyarko, Kofi Kyereh Darkwah, Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye and Alex Gaddiel Buabeng.

The defendants denied all the allegations and on October 12, three of them filed a counterclaim accusing the complainant of certain offenses and therefore requesting certain reliefs.

Dr. Duffuor II, Professor Kwadwo-Kusi and Ms. Duffuor-Nyarko, in the counterclaim, accused Nii Dodoo of publishing a faulty report, which resulted in the bankruptcy of the bank.

Context

On August 1, 2018, the BoG revoked the license of uniBank.

It was one of eight local banks that collapsed as a result of what the BoG called "poor corporate governance and mismanagement of depositors' funds".

The bank, created by Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, was one of five merged banks in the Consolidated Bank of Ghana (CBG), a wholly owned entity by the state, after revocation of their licenses by the BoG.