An application for a stay of proceedings in the $41.3 million court case against IFC and OPEC fund has been rejected.
The Accra High Court has refused a plea of stay of execution presented by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and OPEC in the case arraigned against them by indigenous Ghanaian company Quantum Oil Terminals Limited.
Presiding judge His Lordship Justice Samuel Asiedu ruled against the case to be referred to arbitration in London and award conventional damages to the tune of GHC 12,000 to be paid to Quantum Oil by IFC and the OPEC Fund.
At the Commercial High Court 1 in Accra, the proponent counsel argued on behalf of IFC that both parties had agreed that in disputes arising from their loan agreement and related issues the matter be referred for arbitration at the London Court for International Arbitration.
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The two loan agreements signed by both parties included four securities agreement and a debenture.
On the contrary, the opposing counsel argued that the agreement to settle disputes by arbitration was only for non-contractual related disputes.
He elaborated that the dispute before the court were not caught by the arbitration clause because
disputes on those five other agreements were subject to Ghana law and only a High Court in Ghana had jurisdiction to determine such disputes.
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Also, the counsel for Quantum Oil said the London Court for International Arbitration had no jurisdiction to hear the claims of damages for racism and discrimination their clients had raised against the Bretton Woods institutions.
He said because IFC and OFID were clearly bigger companies than their client’s they were leveraging a false claim of moving the case to London to inhibit the execution of justice as his clients wouldn’t be able to afford the expense if the case who should go arbitration.
After hearing both arguments on 23rd June, 2017, the trial judge, His Lordship Justice Samuel Asiedu, The presiding judge after hearing both sides of the court ruled in favour of Quantum Oil Terminals Limited dismissing the application of the plaintiffs.
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His Lordship Justice Samuel Asiedu resolved that evidence supported the case being ruled in a Ghanaian High Court according the agreement signed by both parties.
Quantum Oil Terminals were represented by Mr. Alex K. Osei-Owusu and Ms. Shirley Mawuli Armah, while the IFC and OFID were represented by lawyers of the ENSafrica Law Firm Mr. Adu Tutu and Mr. Joseph Konadu.
IFEC and OPEC Fund were sued by Quantum Oil Terminals for allegedly breaching contractual agreement for International Development for damages, totaling $41.3 million ($41,319,123).
An application for a stay of proceedings in the $41.3 million court case against IFC and OPEC fund has been rejected. Read Full Story
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