AFRICAN CATERING SERVICES v. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
May 27, 2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP JUSTICE KWEKU T. ACKAAH-BOAFO
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Contract Law
- Banking and Finance Law
- Commercial Law
May 27, 2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Justice Kweku T. Ackaah-Boafo of the High Court addressed a long-running dispute over how to compute interest on a judgment debt arising from catering services provided for the 6th African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) summit in Accra. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Co-operation and NEPAD had been ordered to pay USD$297,000 or its cedi equivalent plus 32% simple interest from October 3, 2008 and costs. After the Plaintiff filed an Amended Entry of Judgment, the Defendant argued interest should be calculated using a US dollar rate, not Ghana cedi rates. The Court referred computations to the Judicial Service Audit Department, which, through referee Robert Nii Aryee Tackie, converted the principal to cedis using monthly average exchange rates and applied a 32% prevailing commercial lending rate at the judgment date under CI 52. Following extensive cross-examination, the Court held that the Defendant failed to impeach the referees work, that the parties agreed to use 32%, and that post-judgment interest should be the prevailing Bank of Ghana rate rather than any US Federal Reserve rate. The Court adopted the updated report (Exhibit CE2).
JUDGEMENT
Background:
(1) This decision is about the Defendant’s position that the Plaintiff ought to have used the United States Dollar interest rate to compute accrued interest when it filed the Entry of Judgment in this matter because the transaction was contracted in the US Dollar. In my respectful opinion it is only appropriate that I reiterate and re-state parts of my ruling dated January 10, 2019 in respect of this case which has been on-going for some time now. As stated in that ruling; this Court differently constituted on September 11, 2014 entered judgment in terms of the following orders in favour of the Plaintiff as follows:
“1. That the Plaintiff recover from the Defendant the sum of USD$297,000.00 or its Cedi equivalent being GH₵1,098,900.00 (at the rate of GH₵3.70 = 1 USD which is the forex bureau rate).
2. Interest on the GH₵1,098,900.00 at the prevailing commercial lending rate of 32% per annum from the 3rd October 2008 till the date of final payment being GH₵2,227,104.00 as at 4th February 2015.
3. Cost of GH₵20,000.00”.
(2) The Plaintiff consequently filed an ‘Amended Entry Judgment’ on February 17, 2015 and served same on the Defendant. The Defendant after being served with the Amended Entry of Judgment filed a Motion on Notice for Leave to set aside same on April 12, 2015 on the grounds that the “Plaintiff/Judgment Creditor/Respondent used the Ghana Cedi interest rate instead of the US Dollar interest rate on a transaction which was contracted in US Dollars and the judgment debt was stated in US Dollars”. The record shows that this Court differently constituted on April 30, 2015 referred the matter to the Head of Audit of the Judicial Service to “compute the exact amount that is due the Plaintiff per the judgment of this Court”. The Court also ordered both lawyers to co-operate with the Auditor.
(3) By a report dated 1st February 2016 and signed by Robert Nii Aryee Tackie for the Director of Audit it was concluded that “Based on the relevant information and explanations made available for the purpose of our work and subject to any other decision that may be made by the honourable court on issues raised in paragraph 9 above, it is our candid opinion that the Defendant is indebted to the Plaintiff to an aggregate amount of GH₵2,688,985.73 as at 31st January 2016”. The report was tendered in Court on June 15, 2016 by Mr. Robert Nii Aryee Tackie who was extensively cross-examined by both Counsel. On July 15, 2016 which was the th