Five defendants demand documents from uniBank’s Receiver

Five of the 17 defendants who were sued by the receiver of the defunct uniBank have filed an application at the Accra High Court seeking for an order directed at the receiver to provide them with certain documents.

The application was filed by Dr Kwabena Duffour, Hoda Holdings Limited, Integrated Properties Limited, Alban Logistics and Bolton Portfolio, with the receiver, Nii Amanor Dodoo, as the respondent.

Lawyers for the five are expected to move the motion for the order to produce documents on March 4, 2019 at the Commercial Division of the Accra High Court.

Documents needed

In all, they are seeking access to 17 documents from the receiver.

They include a notice by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to uniBank revoking its banking licence and an appointment document from the BoG to KPMG and Nii Dodoo as the official administrator and the receiver of the defunct bank, respectively.

They also want the Purchase and Assumption agreement between the receiver and the newly formed Consolidated Bank, the BoG’s report that uniBank should be placed in official administration and the report of KPMG 30 days after it was appointed as the official administrator.

Among other documents, they are also seeking “all other documents relevant to the official administration and purported receivership and liquidation of uniBank”.

Crucial to our defence

In an affidavit supporting the motion, the five argue that the documents are crucial to their pleadings.

They further submitted that they believed that the documents they were seeking were in the possession of the receiver and, therefore, the court should order him to produce them.

Suit

The receiver of uniBank, Nii Dodoo, sued the five and 12 others on September 4, 2018 for breaching their fiduciary duties as directors of the bank and, in the process, leaving behind a GH¢5.7 billion debt.

He is, accordingly, praying the High Court to hold the 17 jointly liable for all the loss uniBank Ghana Limited has suffered.

The other defendants are Dr Kwabena Duffour II, Starlife Assurance, Poku Gyamfi Boateng, Professor Newman Kwadwo-Kusi, Owusu Ansah Awere, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis and Clifford Duke Mettle.

The rest are Boatemaa Kakra Duffour-Nyarko, Kofi Kyereh Darkwah, Nana Boakye Asafu-Adjaye and Alex Gaddiel Buabeng.

Counter-claim

However, three of the defendants the receiver of uniBank sued for causing the GH¢5.7 billion debt to the bank hit back last September.

Dr Duffuor II, Prof. Kwadwo-Kusi and Boatemaa Kakra Duffour-Nyarko, in their defence, accused the receiver of issuing a defective report leading to the collapse of the bank.

In a counter-claim, the three are arguing that the BoG would not have revoked uniBank’s licence “but for the acts of misrepresentation and the rent-seeking behaviour of KPMG and the receiver”.

The defendants are, accordingly, seeking a declaration that the entire procedure culminating in the purported appointment of KPMG as an official administrator was unlawful, illegal and contrary to the prevailing and acceptable practice and custom of the banking sector.