Court strikes out Afenyo Markin case against Agriculture Development Bank
The Supreme Court (SC) has urged the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, Mr Alex Afenyo Markin not to file writs indiscriminately.
The SC said: “Do not take pleasure in filing writs here and there.”
This came after the court had struck out the writ and two other applications filed for his client, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah, against the adb.
The other applications were motion for injunction and application for the extension of time.
It, however, did not award cost against Dr. Assibey-Yeboah.
According to Mr Markin, his client decided to withdraw the matter after he (Dr. Assibey- Yeboah) had received some correspondence from the Management of adb indicating that what his client sought from the court would be dealt with in Parliament.
“My instructions from my client are that compelling assurances have been given by adb to engage Parliament to resolve the legal issues that provoked the writ,” Mr Markin said.
Mr Tony Lithur counsel for adb said he had no instructions on any “assurances.”
According to Lithur, they did not oppose to the withdrawal but asked for “heavy cost” against Dr Assibey-Yeboah.
Mr Lithur told the Supreme Court that the Bank had suffered a great deal following the writ filed by the Plaintiff, explaining that the Initial Public Offer (IPO) had “not quick started”.
Dr Dominic Ayine, the Deputy Attorney General, supported arguments for cost saying the writ had disrupted duties of a private party resulting in economic or financial loss to entity.
According to him, the SC needed to balance public interest in the instant case with that of a commercial interest of private entity.
“We need to make it clear to those issuing writs left, right, and centre to become aware of the financial impact,” he added.
Responding to the arguments on awarding cost, Mr Markin explained that his client raised issues in the interest of Ghanaians who were shareholders of the bank.
The MP had filed an injunction on the bank’s IPO and prayed the court to compel it to first seek Parliamentary approval before going ahead with the transaction.
The case was filed by the Member of Parliament for New Juaben South constituency, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah who had insisted that the Bank’s initial Public Offer should first be approved by Parliament.
The MP had invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to compel the Bank to seek parliamentary approval before it proceeded with the planned public offer.
The Panel were Justices, Victor Jones Dotse (presiding), Anin Yeboah, Sule Gbadegbe, Anthony Benin, Paul Baffoe Bonney, Vida Akoto Bamfo and Gabriel Pwamang.
Source: GNA