GN license revocation: Bank of Ghana gets another adjournment, delays case

The lawyers for the Bank of Ghana have on Thursday secured a further adjournment in the GN Savings and Loans licence revocation case. This follows two earlier adjournments in the case within 7 days.

Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and two other shareholders of GN Savings have been in Court since August 2019 to challenge the Bank of Ghana’s decision to revoke the company’s licence.

When the case was called on Thursday morning, the trial judge, Mrs Justice Gifty Adjei-Addo, informed the parties that Bank of Ghana’s lawyer, Mr Frank Davies, has written to her asking for a further adjournment to 9th July 2020.

According to the trial judge, Mr Frank Davies has stated in the letter that he was appearing at the Court of Appeal in a different matter, for which reason he would not be able to appear before the High Court.

It may be recalled that the Court of Appeal on 22nd June 2020, dismissed Bank of Ghana’s technicality appeal and directed them to go back to the High Court to justify their decision to revoke GN Savings’ licence.

However, when the case was called in the High Court on Friday, 26th June 2020 for the Bank of Ghana to argue their justification, their lawyers were absent without a reason notwithstanding that they were duly notified of the day’s proceedings. All the other lawyers in the case were present. The case was accordingly adjourned to Monday 21st June 2020.

On the Monday, all the lawyers in the case were present but the lawyers of the Bank of Ghana were nowhere to be found again. The trial judge adjourned the case to Thursday, 2nd July and directed the lawyers for Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, to serve a hearing notice on Bank of Ghana’s lawyers. Thursday’s adjournment was therefore the third in the series.

The further adjournment on Thursday morning, however, did not go down well with Dr Nduom’s lawyer, who vehemently prayed the Court to disregard the letter. Nonetheless, the judge adjourned the case to 9th July 2020 and warned that there will not be any further adjournment.

Meanwhile, Mr Philip Addison who is the lawyer for the Receiver asked the Court to commit Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom for contempt of court. According to him, Dr Nduom has been talking too much about the case to the press. The trial judge however told Mr Addison that he knows what to do, suggesting that a contempt application cannot be made orally.

Last week, a statement made the rounds in the media in which Dr Nduom was asking the general public to pray for the judge to do justice according to law and not to succumb to any political influence.