GUARANTY TRUST BANK vs. STEEL & FORGING LTD. AND 4 OTHERS [2015]DLCA8026

Date	2015-02-26
Suit No.	SUIT NO.: HI/171/2014
Citation No.	[2015]DLCA8026

MARFUL SAU J.A. (PRESIDING)

KORBIE J. A.

TORKORNOO J. A.

EDITH AKIWUMI FOR APPELLANT

ERIC OSEI-MENSAH FOR RESPONDENTS

[2015]DLCA8026
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >GUARANTY TRUST BANK<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF/JUDGMENT
CREDITOR/RESPONDENT/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;
color:#00B0F0">vs.<o:p></o:p>STEEL
&amp; FORGING LTD. AND 4&nbsp; OTHERS<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANTS/JUDGMENT/DEBTORS/APPLICANTS/RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

SUIT NO.: HI/171/2014&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;DATE: 26TH&nbsp; &nbsp;FEBRUARY, 2015<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>EDITH AKIWUMI FOR APPELLANT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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ERIC OSEI-MENSAH FOR
RESPONDENTS<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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MARFUL
SAU J.A. (PRESIDING), KORBIE J. A., TORKORNOO J. A.<o:p></o:p>

</div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
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padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>TORKORNOO, J. A:<o:p></o:p>The plaintiff/judgment creditor/respondent/appellant
(hereinafter called appellant) sued the defendant/judgment debtors/applicants/respondents
(respondents) for the due payments of both cedi and dollar denominated loans.
Summary Judgment was granted against the respondents for all reliefs sought on
19th December 2012. This can be found on page 169 of the Record of
Appeal (ROA). The judgment hasn’t been appealed. <o:p></o:p>The respondents thereafter applied to
pay the judgment debt in installments. Their proposals were accepted, and
entered by the court. See pages 178 and 179 of the ROA. By this order, the
respondents were to pay the judgment debt at the rate of <o:p></o:p>1.5 million GHC and 300,000 US$ on or
before 15th February 2013 and the remainder of the debt in six equal
monthly installments. <o:p></o:p>Significantly, the respondents abandoned
this order they had obtained and did not honor the payments as scheduled such
that the appellant commenced execution of the judgment debt. The appellant
ensured that the entry of judgment was served on the respondents, and commenced
FiFA proceedings attaching three landed properties and all movables of the
judgment debtor. It also applied for reserved price of the attached properties.&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>When respondents opposed the valuation
reports on the attached property, the court ordered an independent valuation on
12th July 2013 for some of the properties and ordered the
continuation of execution of the remaining properties. See page 274 of the ROA.
On 7th August, 2013, the respondents again abandoned the
re-valuation order they had obtained and the court entered the reserved price for
all the attached properties and ordered execution to continue for all the
attached properties. See pages 277 and 278 of the ROA. <o:p></o:p>The appellant continued diligently with
execution processes, all to the knowledge of respondents. See pages 181 to 273
of the ROA.<o:p></o:p>The auction which led to this appeal
was duly advertised on 9th September for 30th September (page
308 of the ROA) and conducted on the advertised 30th September.
During this period, the records show that the respondents started to pay the
judgment debt through post dated cheques and each payment was accepted by the
bank – as is their right. &nbsp;<o:p></o:p>On Pages 320 -334 of the ROA, one finds
the respondents’ first application to set aside the auction sale. This was
filed on 30th October 2013. It was filed by one Randall Obeng Sakyi.
&nbsp;It would seem that this application was
abandoned because there is no record of its grant or refusal. A new lawyer,
Henry Orraca Tetteh, &nbsp;filed another
application for stay of execution and an order setting aside the sale of
properties and recovery of the sold properties on 8th November 2013
found on pages 339 -357 of the ROA. It is this application that was ruled on 5th
February 2014 as can be seen in the opening line of the high court judge’s
ruling found on page 416 of the Record of Appeal. He wrote: <o:p></o:p>‘The
instant application, filed on the 8th November 2013 seeks….’<o:p></o:p>