G. BRANDS IMPEX LTD. vs. BANK OF GHANA [2007]DLCA7027

Date	2007-03-16
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO.: H1/278/05
Citation No.	[2007]DLCA7027

ARYEETEY J.A. [PRESIDING]

ANIM J.A.

MRS. ABBAN J.A

MR. J.K. AGYEMANG FOR THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

MR. DICK ANYADI FOR THE PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT

[2007]DLCA7027
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >G. BRANDS IMPEX LTD.<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>BANK OF GHANA<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL,
ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>CIVIL
APPEAL NO.: H1/278/05&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; DATE: 16TH MARCH, 2007<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;border:none;
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padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">COUNSEL:
<o:p></o:p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;border:none;
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padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">MR. J.K. AGYEMANG FOR THE
DEFENDANT/APPELLANT<o:p></o:p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;border:none;
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padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">MR. DICK ANYADI FOR THE
PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<o:p></o:p>ARYEETEY
J.A. [PRESIDING], ANIM J.A., MRS. ABBAN J.A<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
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</div>ANIM, J.A.<o:p></o:p>The Defendant/Appellant
hereinafter referred to as “The Defendant” has appealed to this Court
requesting that the judgment of the High Court, Accra, presided over by His
Lordship Justice Victor Ofoe, delivered on 29th June 2000, be set aside. <o:p></o:p>By its Writ of Summons and
Statement of Claim issued on 14th April 2000, the Plaintiff/Respondent
hereinafter referred to as “The Plaintiff” claimed against the Defendants:—<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[a] Recovery of the amount of US$1.4 million
wrongfully deducted by Defendants from payment due to the Plaintiff or its cedi
equivalent at the US dollar Forex bureau buying rate on the day of payment. <o:p></o:p>[b]
Interest on the cedi equivalent of the US$1.4 million at the prevailing
commercial banks lending rate from October, 1996 to the date of payment of the
principal sum or in the alternative anticipated profits. <o:p></o:p>[c]
Costs of the action including counsel’s costs. <o:p></o:p>The case of the Plaintiff
is that some years ago the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Libyan
Arab Jamahiriya entered into a bilateral trade agreement whereby certain
commodities were sold or exchanged between the two countries. That under or by
virtue of the bilateral agreement, the Government of Ghana designated the
Horticulturists Association of Ghana [“HAG”] to be responsible for the export
of certain food items, among which were, fruit juices or drinks and canned tuna
to the Agricultural Marketing Company of Libya [“AGRIMARK’]. Under the
arrangement certain members of HAG purchased or produced and shipped various
items to Agrimark under the name of HAG. That pursuant to the entry of the
bilateral trade agreement the two governments designated their Central Banks,
namely the Bank of Ghana and the Bank of Libya to be responsible for the
financial arrangements under what was termed [“Banking Arrangements”] That by
virtue of the said banking arrangements, whenever, a Ghanaian exporter or
Company exported to Agrimark of Libya under the name HAG, and HAG submitted the
shipping documents to the Bank of Ghana, the Bank of Ghana effected payment to
the exporter/company through HAG and charged a commission. That Plaintiff
/Company and its sister company by name G. Brands Limited made a number of
exports to Agrimark under the name of HAG. And HAG in turn submitted the
shipping documents to the Bank of Ghana, which effected payment to HAG for the
benefit of G. Brands Ltd. The Plaintiff alleged further that in or about
January 23 1996, the Ministry of Trade wrote a circular/letter/directive to the
various stakeholders involved in the export to Libya and indicated that as a
result of the passage of the Import and Export Act 1995 [Act 503] of the
Republic of Ghana companies or exporters were free to export to Agrimark of
Libya and no longer through HAG. That pursuant to the said directive the Plaintiff’s
sister company G. Brands Ltd. exported to Agrimark of Libya, a consignment of
canned tuna and at the request of Agrimark, sent the original shipping
documents to Agrimark to enable Agrimark clear the consignment from the port,
which Agrimark did. That the Plaintiffs then forwarded the shipping documents
to the Bank of Ghana to enable it [BOG] to effect payment to it but the
documents were returned. The Plaintiffs finally contended that the non-payment
or the withholding of the US$1.4 million from the payment due to it by the
defendant is unlawful and inconsistent with or derogated from the valid
contract made between Agrimark and G. Brands Ltd. [Plaintiffs’ sister company]
pursuant to which the canned tuna were exported to Agrimark of Libya by the said
sister company and that if indeed the Defendant accepted the alleged
discounting, its conduct is wrongful and the Defendants must be answerable to
the Plaintiffs for the US$1.4 Million.<o:p></o:p>The Defendants vehemently
denied liability and contended that the shipment made by G. Brands Ltd., the
alleged sister company [not the Plaintiff in this case] was not made through
HAG under the Ghana-Libya Bilateral Exchange Agreement, the shipment having
been made directly to the recipient in Libya so that the Defendants were not
bound to accept the documents for transmission to Libya and receive payment on
behalf of the Exporter, G. Brands Ltd. Further, the Defendant had to return the
documents of Plaintiffs’ alleged sister company because they were received on
24/2/97 in respect of an alleged shipment in February, 1996 to Agrimark when
th</main>