20-Year review of judgment debt payments in Ghana — Impact, causes, remedies (IV)
One judgement debt case in the Sole Commissioner’s report provides an example of judgement debt payment based on alleged misrepresentation and fraud.
In this case, Ghana Post Ltd entered into a contract with Sky Consult in 2005 to conduct an “Instant Money Transfer” (IMT) business and share the profits.
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According to Sky Consult, after the business earned total revenue of GH¢6,329,030 by 2008, Ghana Post took out of the profit an amount of GH¢1,119,000 and gave GH¢774,000 to Sky Consult, with an outstanding balance of GH¢998,000 to be paid to Sky Consult later.
Sky Consult decided to sue in 2009 for the remaining balance and obtained a summary judgement with interest in the amount of GH¢1,693,872.56, which Ghana Post paid, leaving GH¢130,000.
Fraud and misrepresentation
However, at the Court of Appeal and in another High Court, its appeals to set aside the summary judgement on the grounds that they were obtained through misrepresentation and fraud were dismissed.
Contrary to the accounts by Sky Consult, Ghana Post argued that some top management personnel of Ghana Post colluded with Sky Consult to steal transfer funds, and for that reason, some staff had been convicted and jailed.
The commission reported that profits were shared when the account of the IMT business had not been audited and both parties failed to pay taxes on the profit.
It was also reported that, at the trial court, the interest on the principal sum was also wrongly computed, and the summary judgement was applied for and granted even before the expiry of the period allowed for entry of appearance, contrary to the provisions of Order 14 rule 1 of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules, C.I. 47 of 2004.
In conclusion, Ghana Post paid money that Sky Consult did not deserve because the trial court did not exercise due diligence in granting the application, and the Court of Appeal did not follow proper civil procedures before dismissing the appeal by Ghana Post.
Judgment Debt Payment due to Compulsory Land Acquisition Compensation claim by the Carmichael Family (Aveyime Livestock Project payment of US$2,640,000 instead of GH¢33)
In the Auditor-General's Annual Report of 2011 to the parliament of Ghana, it was stated that the Government of Ghana paid an amount of US$ 2,400,000 to a family called Carmichael family as compensation for a piece of land acquired by the State in 1976.
The report also stated that a further $240,000.00 was paid by the Government to the solicitors of the Carmichael family.
By Executive Instrument (EI) 27 on 21st February 1976, the State acquired approximately 24,790 acres of land at Aveyime-Battor in the Volta Region for the Aveyime Livestock Project.
After the State had acquired these lands, the solicitors of the establishment by name Korah Chambers of Accra, in 1978, wrote to the then Chief Lands Officer and requested for a compensation of three hundred and thirty thousand old cedis (330,000) now thirty-three Ghana cedis (GH¢33) to be paid to their clients for both land and buildings lost as a result of state acquisition.
There was no record that the Chief Lands Officer responded to the solicitor's letter.
However, there was evidence that the solicitors wrote again to the chief lands officer on 15th July 1981.
The Chief Land Officer replied to this second letter on 27th July 1981 to make an offer that was unconditionally accepted, yet no payment was made.
Re-evaluation
The Government carried out a revaluation of the property in 1993. The re-valuation showed an increase in the value of the structures from 200,040 to 45,300,000 old Ghana cedis.
A further re-valuation of the same land was made in the year 2000, raising the value of the structures to GH¢775,522.30.
The raging battle over the compensations spanned thirty (30) years. During that period, several attempts were made to resolve the matter.
Successive Attorney-Generals were not left out in the negotiations. In January 2009, former President, His excellency John Agyekum Kufuor allegedly instructed that the sum of US$2,400,000 be paid as compensation to the Carmichael family in respect of the Aveyime Livestock Project.
There was a further directive to pay US$240,000.00 to the solicitors in charge of negotiations of the payment of the required compensation for and on behalf of the Carmichael family.
In essence, the Government paid a total of US$2,640,000.00 for land, which at the time of acquisition was only GH¢33.00.
A timely settlement would have made all the difference.