Today, Wednesday 18, December 2019, the Human Rights Court will be in session for the ruling on whether that court has the right to hear the GN Savings case or refer it to arbitration.
On 30 August 2019, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom together with some shareholders of GN Bank/Savings filed an application at the Human Rights Division of the High Court, challenging the decision of the Bank of Ghana to collapse GN Savings and Loans Company Limited.
An application was filed by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Attorney Generals Office to stop the legal action at the Human Rights Division Of the High Court.
It would be recalled that in a similar case, an application filed by the BoG to stop a legal action challenging the revocation of the licence of UniCredit Savings and Loans Limited was dismissed.
The court presided over by Justice George Koomson, on 26 September 2019 described the BoG’s application for UniCredit’s legal challenge to be struck out as “misconceived”.
Hoda Holdings, the parent company of uniCredit filed an application for judicial review in the nature of certiorari, seeking an order from the High Court to quash the decision by the BoG.
“At no point did the respondents indicate to the company that the company had become insolvent and that the respondents’ decision to declare the company insolvent and subsequently revoke its licence is not based on any empirical fact but purely on deductions based on the deliberate creation of an extremely difficult financial situation to induce the company and its shareholders, including the applicant, to give in to the respondents’ malicious intentions,” the affidavit accompanying the
application stated.
On the other hand, the BoG raised the issue of jurisdiction, with a case that the High Court was not the proper forum for the legal action.
Lawyers for the BoG argued that any dispute arising out of the revocation must be determined through an arbitration process and not through the court system, as stipulated in the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act.
Justice Koomson disagreed with the BoG’s position and held that the court did, indeed, have jurisdiction to hear the case.
In the GN Savings case, applicants are praying the High Court to make an order of certiorari quashing the August 16, 2019 announcement declaring GN Savings and Loans Company Limited insolvent and consequently revoking its licence to operate as a specialised deposit-taking institution.The application wants a declaration that the licence revocation […]
