u
An Accra High Court has
referred part of the case between the shareholders and the Receiver of uniBank for
arbitration.
The appointment of an
arbitrator by the judge, Justice Jennifer Abena Dadzie, follows an application
by the Receiver of the bank, Nii Amanor Dodoo, to dismiss the counterclaim of
some of the shareholders of the bank to those he filed.
However the court said
unibank case is not frivolous.
The Receiver, in his
application, prayed the court to strike out the amended statement of defence
and counterclaim of three of the shareholders.
He said the pleadings
by the defendants are an abuse of the court’s processes and attempt to delay
the fair resolution of the dispute, which is “very simple as it involves
recovery of sums of money which have been allegedly taken
out of the accounts of uniBank, which is now in receivership.”
The Receiver of defunct
uniBank sued the founder of the bank, Dr Kwabena Duffuor and 16 others to pay
GH¢5,712,623,145 which was allegedly misappropriated.
In a suit filed at an
Accra High Court, the Receiver, Nii Amanor Dodoo, who is a senior partner at
KPMG, is seeking an order of the court against Dr. Duffuor and 16 others with
links to the defunct bank to repay the huge amount of money.
The plaintiff averred
that all the 17 defendants, who are all directors, shareholders and debtors of
the once vibrant uniBank, engaged in illegal transactions by giving out
unlawful loans and advances, as well as illegal acquisition of assets in the
name of related interests or persons related to the shareholders.
The shareholders then
filed statement of defence and a counterclaim denying the allegations levelled
against them and sought some remedies from the court.
They were seeking a declaration
that the entire procedure culminating in the purported appointment of KPMG as
an official administrator is unlawful, illegal and contrary to the prevailing
and acceptable practice and custom of the banking industry, among others.
But the Receiver, in his
application, prayed the court to dismiss the whole counterclaim of the
respondents and part of their statement of defence, which are offending.
Justice Dadzie, in her
ruling, struck out part of the counterclaim, saying it did not in any way address
the matter before the court.
She, however, stayed
all the pleadings of the defendants in their statement of defence for the
parties to go for arbitration.
The court subsequently appointed a retired Supreme Court judge, Professor Justice Samuel Kofi Date-Bah, as the arbitrator.
By Gibril Abdu Razak
The post UniBank Case Referred To Arbitration appeared first on DailyGuide Network.
