November 5, 2014
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Benin J.S.C., considered an application for judicial review seeking certiorari to quash two High Court orders in a money-laundering context. The applicant, whose Ecobank Ghana account at Kotobaabi received a US$10,000 remittance, found his account frozen by the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Intelligence Centre. The High Court (Financial Division) confirmed the freeze ex parte under section 47 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008 (Act 749), and later dismissed a preliminary objection to an FBI report’s admissibility under section 161 of the Evidence Act. Interpreting section 47, the Supreme Court held that ex parte freezing and confirmation are lawful within statutory timelines and that notification duties lie with the CEO, not the court. Crucially, the Court found the trial judge exceeded authority by freezing the entire account when only a US$10,000 transaction was suspicious. Exercising supervisory power, it varied the order to freeze only the US$10,000 and secure it in the Bank of Ghana exhibit account, dismissing the application otherwise. Atuguba J.S.C. concurred, additionally noting extreme delay and agreeing that certiorari could not lie against the later order.
RULING
BENIN, JSC:-
This is an application for judicial review by way of an order of certiorari brought under Article 132 of the 1992 Constitution and Rule 61(1) of the Supreme Court Rules C.I. 16 as amended by C.I. 24. The applicant seeks the following reliefs from this court:
An order of certiorari to bring up into this Court for purposes of being quashed the order of the High Court (Financial Division) Coram: Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwa Asare Botwe dated 24th October 2013 confirming the freezing of the Applicant’s account and other assets within the jurisdiction.
An order of certiorari to bring up into this Court for purposes of being quashed the ruling of the High Court (Financial Division) Coram: Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwa Asare Botwe dated 7th March 2014 dismissing the preliminary legal objection raised against the admissibility of an FBI report for non-compliance of section 161 of the Evidence Act.
The grounds for the application are three, namely:
Her Ladyship exceeded her Jurisdiction when she confirmed the freezing of the Applicant’s account in an order dated 24th October 2013 without giving the Applicant hearing.
Her Ladyship exceeded her jurisdiction when she ordered the transfer of the Applicant’s funds lodged with Ecobank into the Exhibit account of the Respondent with the Bank of Ghana.
That Her Ladyship exceeded her jurisdiction when she dismissed the preliminary legal objection raised against the admissibility of an FBI report for non-compliance of section 161 of the Evidence Act.
Facts of the case
The Applicant operates an account with Ecobank (Ghana) Ltd, hereafter called the Bank. In or around July 2013 an inward remittance of US$10,000.00 was credited to the Applicant’s account domiciled at the Kotobaabi branch of the Bank. The Applicant was duly notified of the remittance by the Bank via a text message. The Applicant could not access the money because his account was frozen by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Financial Intelligence, interested party herein. The High Court confirmed the freezing of the account by an order dated 24th October 2013 upon an application ex parte by the CEO brought under section 47 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008 (Act 749), hereafter called the Act. The Applicant made an application to the High Court to set aside the order and defreeze the account. In response to the said application the CEO produced what appeared to be a report emanating from the United States Federal Bureau of