A Commercial Division of the High Court Presided by Justice Sedina Agbamava has fined Fidelity Bank Ghana.
This is after the bank refused to defreeze the account of a client, Francis H. Abraham despite an order causing the said Francis Abraham undue embarrassment and hardship in Respect of an account held by the complainant at their A and C mall Branch.
The Bank Branch was reportedly served a notice of interlocutory injunction by the spouse of the said Francis Abraham which was later found to be improper and illegal.
The court ordered the bank to pay interest on US$130,000 which was in the account as at the freezing date in 2018.
Per the Presiding judge, the bank acted negligently when it froze the account of the plaintiff in the case for well over three years without any order of the court or legal ground.
Portions of the judgement read:
Plaintiff advocates for exemplary and aggravated damages and I think he is entitled to it. I hereby award
i. General Damages for breach of contract, negligence, inconvenience and embarrassment in the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢200,000.00).
ii. General Damages in the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢200,000.00) for defamation.
iii. Exemplary damages in the sum of Four Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢400,000.00) against Defendant for its persistent failure and refusal to comply with the demands of the Plaintiff and the Orders of the Honourable Court for Defendant to defreeze the Plaintiffs accounts to enable him access same.
iv. Defendant is further ordered to pay interest on the sum of One Hundred and Thirty Thousand United States Dollars (USDS130,000.00) from the 2nd day of May 2018 to the 14th day ofJanuary, 2021.
Costs awarded in the sum of Seventy-Five Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢75,000.00) to the Plaintiff”
Mynewsgh.com