Debt exchange: Don’t prevent bondholders from going to court – Lawyer

A lawyer and business strategist, David Ofori, is of the view that telling bondholders they will lose when they go to court is not a fair call.

According to him, whether they will be successful or not is not the case of anyone outside the court to determine.

He also added that discouraging affected bondholders may lead to more unrest than there already is.

“A contract has certain principles for it to be able to become a contract. But no contract can be enforced if it’s illegal. What if you went to court and a judge declared that, that very clause you’re talking about is void for illegality as an example, notwithstanding that you entered into it. I’m not saying that, that is what will happen.

“The point I’m making is there’s a public policy principle I want us to avoid; that public policy principle is the situation where anybody, it doesn’t matter who will deny the individual the ability to go to court and seek redress even if he will lose. Give them that chance. Don’t prevent people from going,” myjoyonline.com quoted him.

He further explained, “Our constitution under both the directive principle of state policy and throughout article 20 draws attention to our economic right, and the right of a person’s asset not to be expropriated. If for example, you deny me, my principal, essentially are you not denying me my right to my asset?

“So it becomes a constitutional issue as to whether you will go to the supreme court for interpretation or whatever, that’s another matter. I want to emphasise that no lawyer will ever tell anybody that don’t go to court. I’m not advising anybody to go to court either.”

He added that denying people the opportunity to seek legal redress is also a danger to the economy.

“I’m more concerned about the first approach many people take, ‘don’t go to court, you will lose etc,’ because it makes people frustrated and the opposite of ‘don’t go to court, you will lose’ is very dangerous for the society. I think we should avoid that…let them go and leave the judges to decide,” he said.

Lawyer Dorte made the statements on the back of the government’s decision to include individual bondholders in the debt exchange programme.

The Finance Ministry has cautioned individual bondholders who refuse to take the Amended and Restated Exchange Memorandum under the debt exchange programme that they will find it difficult to obtain a judgement against the government.

SSD/FNOQ