Ecobank MD, two others to go to prison for contempt of court
An Accra High Court has ordered a substituted service of an application for committal to prison for contempt of court filed against some officers of Ecobank Ghana.
They are Mr Daniel Sackey, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Madam Ewuraa Abena Asafo-Boakye, Head of the Legal Department of the Bank and Mr William Asamoah-Otoo of the Legal Department. This followed three unsuccessful attempts to serve the three officials of the bank.
The application for committal to prison for contempt of court was filed on December 14, 2021, by Mr Thaddeus Sory, one of the lawyers for Mr. Daniel Ofori, a businessman.
Mr Tsatsu Tsikata moved the application for substituted service on Tuesday December 21, 2021, with Nana Boakye, for Mr Ofori.
According to the affidavit in support of the application, a writ of Fi-Fa from the High Court pasted on the Head Office of the Bank on or about November 26, 2021, in enforcement of orders of the Supreme Court, was removed by Mr. William Asamoah-Otoo at the instance of Mr. Dan Sackey and Ewuraa Abena Asafo-Boakye.
Lawyers for Mr Ofori indicated that this was done immediately after the Fi-Fa was pasted on the premises.
The Court presided over by Justice Gifty Adjei, granted the application for substituted service and ordered that the three persons be served by the pasting of the Court processes at the Head Office of the bank.
The processes are also to be pasted at No. 19, Seventh Avenue, Ridge West, Accra, in the case of Mr. Sackey and Mr Asamoah-Otoo and at No. 2 Mandy Close, Mayfair Gardens, Upper East Airport, Accra in the case of Madam Ewuraa Abena Asafo-Boakye.
The Court ordered that the notices should be pasted for a period of 14 days.
Additionally, the Court ordered that an officer of the Bank also be served with the Court processes in respect of the contempt application.
The Court said a hearing notice for the next date for the three persons to appear in court should also be served on them.
The Court adjourned to January 12, 2022 to enable the three officers to appear in court to answer the charges of contempt filed against them.
The Fi-Fa followed an order of the court that Mr Ofori must recover from Ecobank an amount of GH¢96,304,972.41.
Fi-Fa is a writ of execution after a party had obtained judgment in a legal action to recover debt or damages.
This process was based on orders of the Supreme Court on June 1, 2021, that the amount “which has been admitted in an affidavit of the Head of Legal Department of the Ecobank Ghana” should be reflected in the entry of judgment of Mr Ofori, while an outstanding amount which was being contested in a dispute in court should go ahead.
The bank, together with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ghana Stock Exchange have been in court with Mr Ofori for the past 13 years over a share trade transaction in 2008.
Source: GNA