The human rights division of the Accra high court has dismissed an application by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) seeking to halt proceedings in a case brought by the parent company of uniCredit, the House of Duffuor Assets (HODA) Holdings.
The central bank was challenging the high court’s decision which dismissed its earlier claim that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the action instituted by HODA Holdings.
HODA is challenging the revocation of licence for one of its subsidiary companies, uniCredit Savings and Loans.
No proof of damage
The court said it was dismissing the application because the applicant (BoG) had not shown the irreparable damage it would suffer should the respondent (applicant), HODA Holdings, succeed.
Today’s dismissal of the application will pave the way for hearings of the substantive case filed by HODA Holdings.
The court, presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, has therefore directed the BoG, which is yet to file its statement of case and response to the substantive matter, to file within 14 days.
Chronology
It will be recalled that in October last year the high court dismissed an application by the BoG’s lawyer Frank Davies seeking to strike out a case filed by uniCredit challenging the revocation of its licence.
In its ruling, the high court declared that its jurisdiction has been properly invoked in the matter. Consequently, it ordered the Bank of Ghana to file a response to the application brought by the owners of uniCredit Savings and loans.
The court also awarded costs of GHC3,000 against BoG, to be paid to uniCredit Savings and Loans, together with a separate sum of GHC2,000.
The Bank of Ghana, being dissatisfied with the high court ruling, proceeded upstairs to the Court of Appeal to quash the decision. The central bank believes the matter should have been handled at arbitration level before proceeding to court.
Background to the case
In August 2019 the mother company of uniCredit Savings and Loans Company – HODA Holdings Ltd – sued Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, as well as the Bank itself for revoking the company’s licence.
In its affidavit, filed at the human rights division of the high court on Monday, HODA Holdings said its funds of over GHC54 million were locked up with uniBank before the central bank forced it to cease operations in 2018. It has since been trying to retrieve the money, it said.
HODA Holdings wants “an Order of Certiorari directed at the first and second respondents to bring up to this Honourable Court for the purpose of being quashed the notice dated the 15th day of August 2019 declaring uniCredit Ghana Limited insolvent and revoking the licence of unicCredit Ghana Limited to operate as a specialised deposit-taking institution”.
It is seeking equally “an Order of Interlocutory Injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, assigns, privies, hirelings or otherwise howsoever described from interfering with the operations of uniCredit Ghana Limited and to refer the subject matter of the instant application to arbitration”.
The court has adjourned hearing the substantive case to 23 June.
Fred Dzakpata
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