THOMAS GUEADAM vs. ALHAJI AMADU BILLA [2016]DLHC3827

Date	2016-06-13
Suit No.	SUIT NO.OCC/11/15
Citation No.	[2016]DLHC3827

ANGELINA MENSAH-HOMIAH (MRS.) JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT

OBENG MANU JNR. FOR PLAINTIFF.

JOHN AKPARIBO FOR DEFENDANT.

[2016]DLHC3827
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >THOMAS GUEADAM<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>ALHAJI AMADU BILLA<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;[HIGH COURT (COMMERCIAL
COURT), KUMASI]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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SUIT NO.OCC/11/15&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &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: 13TH JUNE, 2016<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;
mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi"><o:p></o:p>OBENG MANU JNR. FOR PLAINTIFF.<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">

ANGELINA
MENSAH-HOMIAH (MRS.) JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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</div>The
Plaintiff claims against the defendant for an order to account for profits
accruing from his investment of 1,500,000.00 CFA francs in their joint lumber
export business&nbsp; from January, 2000 to
date as well as interest.<o:p></o:p>The
facts of this case are quite interesting. According to the Plaintiff, he came
to Ghana sometime in January, 2000 to invest his 1,500,000.00 CFA francs in the
onion business, but the defendant who is a fellow&nbsp; Moshie man&nbsp;
resident in Ghana convinced him to invest in the lumber business. The
Plaintiff alleged that he handed over that money to the defendant for the two
to undertake a joint lumber business. The two are alleged to have travelled to
Mim to purchase lumber and had the same delivered to the defendant's customer
at Kaya, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. On the blind side of the plaintiff, the
said customer acting in concert with the defendant used the proceeds to buy "waakye"
i.e. beans and sent the same to the&nbsp;
defendant&nbsp; for sale in Ghana.
After that transaction, the plaintiff contended&nbsp;
that he and the defendant bought timber from other places in Ghana for
resale in Burkina Faso but the defendant kept&nbsp;
him in the dark as to&nbsp; how he
conducted&nbsp; the re-sale in that
country;&nbsp; has never rendered accounts
to&nbsp; him; and has not given him any part
of the proceeds irrespective of several promises, such as buying a truck for
him. It is also the plaintiff's&nbsp; case
that the defendant is living a luxurious&nbsp;
life with the proceeds from their joint business&nbsp; whilst he lives in extreme poverty and has
become more or less homeless in Ghana. These assertions were denied by the
defendant&nbsp; and he gave his contrary
version in his statement of defence which has since been struck out for
non-compliance with the orders of this court in respect of filing witness
statement(s).<o:p></o:p>It
is provided under Order 32 Rule 7A (3) (b) of the High Court (Civil Procedure)
Rules, 2004, C.I. 47&nbsp; as amended by C.I.
87 as follows:<o:p></o:p>"
where&nbsp; a party has failed to comply with
any of the directions given at a case management conference or a pre-trial
review or both, the Judge may ...<o:p></o:p>(b) strike out the defence and counterclaim as the case
may be, if the non complying party is a defendant"<o:p></o:p>Oscar
Kofi Jimmah who held brief for John Akparibo, counsel for the defendant was in
court on 28/07/2015 when the court gave directions at to the filing of witness
statements by the parties and a date was fixed for a case management conference.&nbsp; Later, the court was informed that the
parties were attempting an out of court settlement. The defendant was given
extension of time to file his witness statement when settlement broke down but
he never did so.&nbsp; Several hearing notices
served on counsel for the defendant could not push him to attend court and it
became obvious that they were not interested in the trial.<o:p></o:p>As
many as eight issues were set down for trial, namely:<o:p></o:p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Whether&nbsp;
or not the plaintiff&nbsp; advanced the
sum of 1.5 million CFA to the defendant in the joint lumber export business
from January, 2000 to date?<o:p></o:p>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Whether&nbsp;
or not the plaintiff has ever received proceeds from the sale of timber
to Karim?<o:p></o:p>