DANIEL OFORI v. ECOBANK GHANA LIMITED & ORS

RULING

BAFFOE-BONNIE, JSC:-

This ruling is in respect of an application by the 1st defendant/judgment debtor for the court to determine the mode of calculating interest on the judgment debt in this case. The background to this application is that on 2nd June, 2008 the plaintiff was paid an amount of GHS13,762,240.00 by the 1st defendant on behalf of the original 2nd defendant in this case. The payment was for shares in Cal Bank Ltd 2nd defendant bought from the plaintiff. On receiving the money plaintiff instructed the 1st defendant to invest GHS6,160,240.00 in time deposits at an agreed interest of 30% per annum. The plaintiff made the 1st defendant to issue banker’s drafts covering the remainder GHS7,600,00.00 payable to plaintiff’s accounts with Zenith Bank and SSB Bank. On the next working day 1st defendant cancelled the banker’s drafts on the ground that the trade in the shares did not settle so plaintiff was not entitled to receive the money paid to him. The issue ended up in litigation up to the Supreme Court where the plaintiff prevailed.

By the main judgment dated 25th July, 2018 the 1st defendant was ordered to pay to plaintiff the total amount of GHS13,760,240.00. 1st defendant was also ordered to pay interest on the amount which was broken down into two parts; the invested amount of GHS6,160,240.00 was to attract interest at the rate of 30% from 2nd June 2008 to the date of the High Court judgment and thereafter the interest shall be calculated at the rate of interest prevailing at the date of the High Court judgment till the date of payment. The GHS7,600,000.00 was to attract interest at the rate prevailing at the time of the High Court judgment from 2nd June, 2008 till final payment.

On an application for review the court changed the terms for calculating the interest in main judgment to;

The GHS6,162,240.00 was to attract interest at the rate of 30% from 2nd June till date of the Supreme Court judgment (25/7/2018), and thereafter at the statutory rate of interest prevailing at the time of the main judgment (25/7/2018).

The GHS7,600,000.00 was now to attract interest at the statutory rate as at 25/7/2018 from 2nd June, 2008 till the date of payment.

Following upon the review judgment of the court the plaintiff filed a motion on notice seeking to amend its entry of judgment filed on the basis of the main judgment. In the attached proposed entry of judgment the plaintiff calculated the interest rate on the investment amount of GHS6,162,2