GH - ASANTE v. COMPAGNIE FRANQAISE DE L_AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE.

COUSSEY P. The question we had to decide on this appeal is whether the transaction; evidenced by an alleged agreement between Kwabena Abire, D. K. Awuah and Yaw Manu, all of Kumasi, of the first part, and the plaintiff, KojoAsante, of the second part, whereby the plaintiff purported to buy fof £837 6s. the stock-in-trade of the parties of the first part in the Coronation Spirit and Chop Bar was made to defraud Abire's creditors, the defendants, as they plead in paragraph 5·of the statement of defence.

The plaintiff sued the defend~nts for an order releasing from attachment the stock of goods in the Coronation Bar. These had been attached by the defendants for satisfaction of any judgment that might be awarded against Kwabena Abire in the suit of Compagnie Franr;aise de l'Afrique Occidentale v. A bire , then pending in the Divisional Court, Kumasi. He also claimed, and, was awarded by the court below, £669 damages against the defendants for loss of business consequent on the attachment of the goods in the store.

The plaintiff, a cocoa farmer, says he entered into an agreement on April 5, 1954, with Kwabena Abire, Yaw Manu and D. K. Awuah, whereby he paid £610 15s. as capital to enter as a partner the business of the Coronation Bar then run by the three other persons named. The contribution of the other parties is not stated in the agreement, although it provides that profits should be shared between them. Kwame Nkontire, alias D. K. Awuah, says in evidence that he and Manu jointly contributed £300 while Abire contributed £300 as capital. If this is true it is strange that it is not so stated in the agreement. The plaintiff states further that he paid two sums of £500 and £110 15s. before the agreement was signed. About two months later, he claims, pg179 he bought out the other partners by an agreement made on June 1, 1954, whereby he was to pay £100 at the end of July, 1954, and £237 os. at the end of November, 1954.

Kwabena Abire had been obtaining goods on credit, from the defendant company, which between February and November, 1954, amounted to over £1,800. In December, 1954, the defendant company issued a writ against Abire for £1,739 15s. 2d., the balance due for goods supplied, and obtained an order for an interim attachment of the goods in the Coronation Bar as already stated. The plaintiff, Asante, was present in the Bar when the inventory of goods was taken by the court bailiff, but he did not then advance any claim to the goods. Later, however

ASANTE v. COMPAGNIE FRANQAISE DE L_AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE.

Areas of Law