COMET CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD. V. GHANA COMMERCIAL BANK, TEMA (GARNISHEE)

AMISSAH J.A.: This appeal is from a ruling by Anterkyi J. refusing to commit the managers of the Tema and Republic House branches of the Ghana Commercial Bank (hereafter called the bank for convenience) for contempt of court. The grievance of the appellants, Comet Construction Co. Ltd., (hereafter called Comet) arises out of the following circumstances. In 1965 they obtained damages to the tune of about £G71,083, now ¢142,166.00, in an action against the Tema Development Corporation (T.D.C.). Of this amount ¢62,000.00 was paid by the judgment debtors, leaving a balance of just over ¢80,000.00 unpaid. In 1969, Comet brought garnishee proceedings against the Tema branch of the bank, who were reputed to be holding large sums of money in favour of T.D.C. An order absolute was made in these proceedings by the High Court in favour of Comet. They expected to get ¢80,000.00 in their hands as a result. These expectations were shattered. They could not get their hands on a single cedi of the am…