[1965]DLSC1782 • April 12, 1965 • Supreme Court •
ATTORNEY GENERAL vs. THE BANK OF WEST AFRICA
The Public Works Department mistakenly paid £G664 4s. 5d. into the bank account of Mr. Paul Kenneth Johnson, an employee whose contract had expired and who was no longer entitled to salary. The employer sought to recover this sum from the bank, which had credited the employee's account. The bank initially resisted repayment, citing the employee's instructions, but eventually repaid the amount to the employer before trial.
read moreThe action out of which this appeal has arisen was brought by the plaintiff-appellant (hereinafter referred to as “the employer”) to recover a sum of £G664 4s. 5d. lodged by the Public Works Department (an erstwhile Department of the Ghana Government now known as Ghana National Construction Corporation) between November 1960 and March 1961 under a mistake of fact, in the defendant-respondent’s bank (hereinafter shortly referred to as “the bank”) to the credit of the account therein of a Mr. Paul Kenneth Johnson (hereinafter referred to as “the employee”) who was engaged by the employer as a mechanical engineer on contract. The facts are really not in dispute; they are simple, straight-forward and free from any complexity. But much controversy arose as to whether in law the employer’s cause of action was against the bank or against the employee. The contract which the employee had with the employer was for an eighteen months’ tour of duty with effect from 16 Februa...