ALHAJI IDDRISU OSUMANU vs. ALHAJI MOROU MANHEAN [2016]DLCA4522

Date	2016-10-27
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. HI/138/16
Citation No.	[2016]DLCA4522

MARFUL-SAU JA (PRESIDING)

ACQUAYE JA

MARGARET WELBOURNE JA

BABA AVIO FOR THE PLAINTIFF/APPELLANT

G.N.K. PHIXON-OWOO FOR THE DEFENDANT/RESPONDENT

[2016]DLCA4522
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >ALHAJI IDDRISU OSUMANU<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>ALHAJI MOROU MANHEAN<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT/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:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

CIVIL APPEAL NO. HI/138/16&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &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: 27TH OCTOBER, 2016<o:p></o:p>

G.N.K.
PHIXON-OWOO FOR THE DEFENDANT/RESPONDENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>MARFUL-SAU, JA:- <o:p></o:p>This
appeal is taken against the judgment of the High Court, Accra delivered on the
19th January,2016. In the said judgment the trial court dismissed the entire
action of the plaintiff, who is the appellant herein. The trial court also
dismissed in part the counterclaim of the defendant who is the respondent in
this appeal. The brief facts of the case are that, the appellant claimed he
handed over an amount of GH₵ 68, 580.00 the
equivalent of US$ 31,900 at the time, to the respondent who was his business
partner to transfer the said sum to another business partner in Indonesia. The
respondent later informed the appellant that the bag in which he put the money
had been stolen. According to the respondent, the appellant and himself had a
common bag in which they kept their monies and this bag was kept in the shop of
one Alhaji Mohammed. The respondent claimed that at the time the bag was stolen
he had other monies in different currencies in the bag. The appellant then took
respondent to several mallams in search of the stolen bag but to no avail. The
matter was later reported to the Police for investigations.<o:p></o:p>From
these facts the appellant caused a writ to be issued against the respondent
claiming (a) an amount of US$ 31,900.00 or the cedi equivalent being an amount
owed to him by the respondent; (b)interest at the dollar rate from 3/10/13 till
date of final payment and (c) costs including lawyer's fees. The respondent
counterclaimed against the appellant on the above facts for (1) an order for
the appellant to refund an amount of GH₵36,000.00,
which was respondent share of business profits; (2) an order for the appellant
to refund an amount of GH₵ 9,200.00 being money he
lent to the appellant; (3) a declaration that the business that resulted in the
missing money was illegal and same is against public policy; (4) any further
reliefs that might be found due to the respondent and (5) costs. <o:p></o:p>As
already indicated at the end of the trial the trial court dismissed appellant's
claims and entered judgment in part for the respondent. It is against the said
judgment that the appellant has mounted this appeal on the following grounds:-<o:p></o:p>'' a.The trial Judge erred when he
held that plaintiff did not give defendant either $31,900.00 or GH₵
68,580.00 when the defendant himself admitted same in his affidavit in
opposition tendered in evidence as exhibit 'C'.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;
b.The trial Judge erred when he held that defendant had proved that the
money was stolen with the bag.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;
c. The trial Judge erred when he held that plaintiff admitted the sum of
GH₵ 9,200.00 and entered judgment for
defendant when defendant failed to prove same.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;
d.The trial Judge erred when he held that the transaction was illegal
and unenforceable.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;
e.The trial Judge erred when he held that the principle of bailment or
negligence is inapplicable to the case.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;
f.The judgment is against the weight of evidence.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;
g. Further grounds of appeal may be filed upon receipt of the record of
appeal.''<o:p></o:p>From
the record of appeal, no additional grounds of appeal was filed by the
appellant. This appeal upon a careful examination of the record of appeal
raises one fundamental issue which is whether or not the transaction that led
to the missing money was legal. Indeed, this issue is what is captured as
ground (d) of the appeal. I shall first address this fundamental issue because
if the transaction is found to be illegal as the trial court found, no useful
purpose would be served in addressing the other grounds of appeal as formulated
above.<o:p></o:p>