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Local food importer sues Barclays Bank Ghana $4 million

According to Borealis Foods, Barclays Bank  allegedly failed to transfer an amount of  funds to its client in Turkey, making the company lose 40 percent of the contract in question.

In the statement of claim filed at the High Court in Accra, Borealis Foods Ghana Ltd said it presented a First Atlantic Bank Cheque with a face value of GHC200,000 to Barclays on November 9, 2015. Barclays Bank, Ghana, on the next day credited the company’s cedi account but deducted same from the account on December 15, 2015 without any reason or consent.

The company said, when Barclays Bank Ghana’s attention was drawn to the issue, the Bank accredited the company’s account on March 29, 2016.

Borealis then asked Barclays Bank to convert the GHC 200,000 to 50,000 dollars to be deposited in  its U.S Dollar account with the Bank, for onward transfer to Ozkaya Gida San TIC Ltd STI, a Turkish company it had signed a 10 million-dollar contract with. The transfer was for part payment for goods supplied to the Borealis Foods Ghana Ltd.

Barclays Bank Ghana, then presented a SWIFT receipt dated April 7, 2016, according to Borealis Food, to confirm that it had transferred the 50,000 dollars to the Turkish Company, an amount the Turkish Company says it never received, though Barclays had deducted charges for the transaction.

On April 14, 2016, however, Borealis says it requested for a statement of its accounts and realized that Barclays had reversed the 50,000 dollar back into its dollar account, converted the said same into Cedis and had deposited the cedi equivalent back into its Ghana Cedi account.

“The defendant (Barclays) again deducted the GHC200,000 from its Ghana Cedi account and have failed, neglected and refused to credit the Plaintiff’s account,” it said, emphasizing that Barclays breached its duty to transfer funds to the Turkish company, resulting in the termination of the contract.

According to Borealis,  Barclays’ conduct of “crediting its account and deducting the amount credited without any reason or the plaintiff’s consent is a breach of the banker customer relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant”.

It is consequently praying the court for general damages and compensatory damages for the loss of the 40 per cent profit from the contract, as well as cost including legal fees.

Pulse Business has tried to contact Barclays Bank for a response to this suit but at the time of publication were unsuccesful.

We will follow-up with Barclays’ comment when it is made avaiable.

SOURCE: Emmanuel Quist

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