AMPOFO vs. FIORINI

The plaintiff, a retired Forestry Department officer, sued the defendant, an Italian timber businessman, for breach of a written agreement dated 1 August 1973 under which the defendant undertook to pay him 35% of the net profits of any company formed by the defendant. The plaintiff pleaded that while still a public officer he assisted the defendant in establishing a timber business, including negotiating the assignment of a timber concession near Wassa-Nkrang, and that the written agreement was executed to protect his interest in that business. He sought accounts of profits of three companies allegedly formed by the defendant, specific performance, damages in lieu, or alternatively damages for unlawful interference with the contractual arrangement. The defendant contended that the agreement was contrary to public policy and illegal because it was entered into by the plaintiff while he was a civil servant whose official duties in the Forestry Department related to inspection, verification, measurement, grading and certification of logs. Portion of judgment pointing to this: opening paragraphs setting out the writ and the quoted paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the amended statement of claim; and the defence in paragraphs 2A and 2B.

JUDGMENT OF ANSAH-TWUM J. The plaintiff, as per his writ of summons filed on 12 February 1979, claims against the defendant herein: “damages for breach of a written agreement dated 1 August 1973 and made between the plaintiff and the defendant, and under which the defendant promised and undertook to cause to be paid to the plaintiff annually thirty-five per centum (35%) of the net profits of certain limited liability companies.” Since the plaintiff’s amended statement of claim filed on 4 November 1980 explains further the claim against the defendant, I do hereunder set out in extenso some of the paragraphs for that purpose: “(1) [The] plaintiff is a retired government official formerly in the service of the Forestry Department of Ghana, and [the] defendant is an Italian businessman engaged in the timber industry and business in Ghana. (2) Between the months of February and August 1973 [the] plaintiff and [the] defendant discussed together the possibility of going into bus...