THE REPUBLIC vs BANK OF GHANA & ORS
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP GEORGE K. KOOMSON (J)
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Constitutional Law
- Banking and Finance Law
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This case concerns the jurisdiction of the High Court to hear a Judicial Review application against the Bank of Ghana's decision to revoke a financial institution's license. The court affirmed its supervisory jurisdiction over administrative bodies, emphasizing that it can review decisions for procedural impropriety, breach of natural justice, or excess of jurisdiction. The court distinguished between reviewing the legality of the decision-making process and the merits of the decision itself. It held that the existence of a statutory arbitration procedure does not automatically oust the court's supervisory jurisdiction. The court dismissed the Bank of Ghana's application to strike out the Judicial Review application, ruling that the High Court's jurisdiction was properly invoked to address alleged breaches of natural justice and procedural requirements.
The core issue which I have been called upon to adjudicate on in this application is as to whether or not the jurisdiction of this Court has been wrongly invoked.
The contention of the 1st Respondent/Applicant hereafter called “The Applicant”) is that in so far as the Originating Notice of Motion for Judicial Review filed by the Applicant/Respondent (hereafter called “The Respondent”) has been filed in violation of the mandatory statutory provisions regarding the form for seeking redress of the alleged grievance, and a gross abuse of the Court’s processes, the said Originating Notice of Motion should be set aside or struck out.
A brief summary of the facts giving rise to the instant application are that, on the 16th day of August, 2019, the Bank of Ghana (BOG), the Applicant herein, revoked the licence of Unicredit Ghana Limited, a Specialized Deposit-Taking Institution by a letter dated 16th August, 2019. Dissatisfied with the revocation of the licence of Unicredit Ghana Limited, the Respondent, which is the majority shareholder in Unicredit Ghana Limited, filed an Originating Notice of Motion in this Court praying for Judicial Review in the nature of Certiorari, to bring the decision of the Applicant into this Court for the purpose of being quashed for stated reasons, inter alia, that there has been a breach of natural justice, namely, a breach of the audi alterem partem rule.
Upon service of the Originating Notice of Motion for an order of Certiorari, the Applicant, filed the present application seeking an order to set aside or struck out the Originating Notice of Motion for Certiorari.
The case of the Applicant is that the jurisdiction of the Court has been wrongly invoked in this particular instance.
The Applicant contends that the revocation of the licence of Unicredit Ghana Limited was undertaken or effected pursuant to Section 123 (1) of the Bank and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Act, 2016 (Act 930) which requires the BOG to revoke the license of a bank or specialized deposit-taking institution, where the BOG determines that the institution is insolvent and also that Section 141 (1) (a) of Act 930 prescribes that “any person who is aggrieved with a decision of the BOG in respect of matters under Section 123-139 of Act 930, and that person desires redress of such grievances, that person shall resort to arbitration” under the rules of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre, established under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2