Ghanaian tycoon Daniel Ofori wins the final round of his 18-year legal war against Ecobank at the Supreme Court

Ghana's Supreme Court dismissed Ecobank Ghana's final legal application this week, delivering a decisive and unambiguous end to one of the longest-running commercial disputes in the country's history, with a ruling that entitles Daniel Ofori, the richest individual investor on the Ghana Stock Exchange, to compound interest at a rate of 30 percent running from June 2, 2008, the date of the original investment, to July 25, 2018, when the Supreme Court first entered judgment in his favour.

The apex court delivered its decision on May 6. It dismissed Ecobank's application to set aside the entry of that earlier judgment and confirmed that post-judgment interest would accrue at 13.5 percent from July 25, 2018, until full and final payment is made. The court awarded GH¢50,000 in costs against Ecobank and in favour of Ofori. Full reasons for the ruling are to be provided within seven days of the decision. Legal representation for Ecobank was led by Ace Anan Ankomah, a Senior Advocate. Ofori's team was led by Tsatsu Tsikata, one of Ghana's most prominent constitutional lawyers.

The dispute traces its origins to a share transaction on the Ghana Stock Exchange in late May 2008. Ofori, through broker Databank Brokerage, sold 14,310,000 CalBank shares to a buyer whose purchasing bank was Ecobank Ghana. The trade was executed on the floor of the exchange on May 27, 2008. Three days later, Databank presented for payment. The shares had already been transferred to the buyer's name. Ecobank, acting under pressure from the Bank of Ghana, which had intervened in the transaction over concerns about the nature of the deal, refused to release the full payment to which Ofori was entitled. The transaction was effectively undone after the shares had already legally changed hands.

Ofori sued. The High Court found in his favour in September 2011 on the question of entitlement, but the interest calculations the court applied were disputed. Ecobank appealed. The Court of Appeal reversed the High Court in June 2013, ruling against Ofori. He appealed to the Supreme Court. On July 25, 2018, in a unanimous judgment written by Justice Pwamang, the apex court overturned the Court of Appeal, found squarely in Ofori's favour and ordered Ecobank to pay the principal sum plus interest at the agreed rate of 30 percent.

What followed was a prolonged resistance by Ecobank to complying with that order. The bank challenged the entry of judgment, contested the interest calculations, filed applications for review and procedurally delayed payment at every available stage. In November 2021, Ofori's lawyers caused a writ of fieri facias to be pasted on the head office building of Ecobank Ghana after the bank failed to pay the court-ordered GH¢96,304,972.41. Ecobank responded by issuing a media statement containing what Ofori's lawyers publicly described as false and defamatory claims. The bank attempted to introduce a new document showing an interest rate of 15 percent, which the court noted lacked credibility given that it contradicted Ecobank's own earlier admission before the tribunal that the agreed rate was 30 percent.

The Supreme Court's May 6 ruling closes every avenue of appeal. The judgment is final. Ecobank must now pay compounded interest at 30 percent from June 2, 2008, to July 25, 2018, and 13.5 percent post-judgment interest from that date to final payment. The compound effect of 18 years of interest at those rates on the underlying principal produces a sum substantially larger than the GH¢96 million figure that was outstanding in 2021.

Ofori is the most closely watched individual investor on the Ghana Stock Exchange. His listed equities portfolio spans GCB Bank, where he holds a 7.5 percent stake that makes him the third-largest shareholder, Societe Generale Ghana at 11.25 percent, SIC Insurance at 5.91 percent and CalBank at 0.615 percent, among others. He founded White Chapel Limited at the age of 15, building it into Ghana's largest apparel superstore chain, before stepping back from day-to-day management to pursue investing and real estate development. His dispute with Ecobank was fought in parallel with the steady accumulation of that portfolio, across five judicial hearings, spanning four different courts, over a period that lasted longer than many business partnerships.

He won all of them.