High Court orders judicial investigation in civil case
The court ordered that the Letters of Administration issued on 2 June 2022, by the Registrar of the High Court in favour of Selina Afolabi Thomas Kermah, Miltona Ann Haddijatou Acy Thomas and Vivat Thomas Njie, the Administrators of the estate of the late Dave H. Thomas, is suspended, pending the outcome of a full judicial investigation into the allegations raised before the court. The Honourable Master of the High Court was directed to constitute and oversee an investigative process into the administration of the estate of the late Dave H. Thomas. The Honourable Master, in consultation with learned Senior Counsel, Miss Ida Drammeh, for the defendant, and Mr Akimbo, counsel for the plaintiff, shall forthwith engage the service of a credible and independent private surveyor and certified valuer to conduct a comprehensive valuation of all assets forming part of the estate of the deceased. The Honourable Master was further directed to make formal enquiries, through the British High Commission, as to whether the deceased owned any properties and/or maintained any bank accounts in the United Kingdom and if so, to ascertain the nature, status and monetary value of such assets. The Honourable Master shall also investigate and determine whether Vivat Thomas Junior is a biological child of the deceased and thereafter a potential beneficiary of the estate. In the event that the allegations advanced by the Respondent/Applicant are found to be false or deliberately misleading, the Respondent/Applicant shall be liable to face full consequences of the law, including proceedings relating to perjury where appropriate, and that the order was made with a cost of D10,000 against the 3rd Applicant/Respondent, Vivat Thomas Njie. The 3rd Defendant/Applicant, Vivat Thomas Njie, had filed a summons on notice seeking for the dismissal of the plaintiff’s suit on the grounds that it constituted an abuse of the court’s process. The applicant argued that the plaintiff had instituted at least four separate suits arising from the same subject matter, which is the estate of the late Dave Herbert Thomas. The applicant submitted that all the suits filed were interrelated, as they arose from the administration and distribution of the estate of the late Dave H. Thomas and involved the same or substantially similar parties. The applicant contended that the issues raised in the present suit are already the subject of consideration in the pending matter. The applicant further argued that the plaintiff had persistently abused the process of the court by instituting multiple actions designed to harass, oppress and annoy the family and Administrators of the estate. However, the plaintiff, Isaac Thomas, filed an affidavit in opposition together with a written brief of argument resisting the applicant’s application. He contended that the present suit is meritorious and ought not to be dismissed. He further averred that the grant of the Letters of Administration was vitiated by fundamental irregularities. He argued that the deceased’s estate was grossly undervalued at D19,504,231.96 whereas the actual value allegedly exceeds D1,500,000,000. It was argued by the plaintiff that one of the deceased’s children, Vivat Thomas Njie, was intentionally excluded from the list of beneficiaries. Having gone through the arguments by the parties, and having cited some authorities to support her ruling, Justice Mboob told the court: “The instant action does not constitute a re-listing of the same issues. The discontinued suits related to the inventory of documents and injunctive relief concerning company assets which are matters materially distinct from the present proceedings, which seek the revocation of the Letters of Administration. The present suit raises substantive and weighty allegations concerning the alleged fraudulent administration of the deceased’s estate.”
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The court ordered that the Letters of Administration issued on 2 June 2022, by the Registrar of the High Court in favour of Selina Afolabi Thomas Kermah, Miltona Ann Haddijatou Acy Thomas and Vivat Thomas Njie, the Administrators of the estate of the late Dave H. Thomas, is suspended, pending the outcome of a full judicial investigation into the allegations raised before the court.
The Honourable Master of the High Court was directed to constitute and oversee an investigative process into the administration of the estate of the late Dave H. Thomas.
The Honourable Master, in consultation with learned Senior Counsel, Miss Ida Drammeh, for the defendant, and Mr Akimbo, counsel for the plaintiff, shall forthwith engage the service of a credible and independent private surveyor and certified valuer to conduct a comprehensive valuation of all assets forming part of the estate of the deceased.
The Honourable Master was further directed to make formal enquiries, through the British High Commission, as to whether the deceased owned any properties and/or maintained any bank accounts in the United Kingdom and if so, to ascertain the nature, status and monetary value of such assets.
The Honourable Master shall also investigate and determine whether Vivat Thomas Junior is a biological child of the deceased and thereafter a potential beneficiary of the estate.
In the event that the allegations advanced by the Respondent/Applicant are found to be false or deliberately misleading, the Respondent/Applicant shall be liable to face full consequences of the law, including proceedings relating to perjury where appropriate, and that the order was made with a cost of D10,000 against the 3rd Applicant/Respondent, Vivat Thomas Njie.
The 3rd Defendant/Applicant, Vivat Thomas Njie, had filed a summons on notice seeking for the dismissal of the plaintiff’s suit on the grounds that it constituted an abuse of the court’s process.
The applicant argued that the plaintiff had instituted at least four separate suits arising from the same subject matter, which is the estate of the late Dave Herbert Thomas.
The applicant submitted that all the suits filed were interrelated, as they arose from the administration and distribution of the estate of the late Dave H. Thomas and involved the same or substantially similar parties. The applicant contended that the issues raised in the present suit are already the subject of consideration in the pending matter.
The applicant further argued that the plaintiff had persistently abused the process of the court by instituting multiple actions designed to harass, oppress and annoy the family and Administrators of the estate.
However, the plaintiff, Isaac Thomas, filed an affidavit in opposition together with a written brief of argument resisting the applicant’s application. He contended that the present suit is meritorious and ought not to be dismissed.
He further averred that the grant of the Letters of Administration was vitiated by fundamental irregularities. He argued that the deceased’s estate was grossly undervalued at D19,504,231.96 whereas the actual value allegedly exceeds D1,500,000,000. It was argued by the plaintiff that one of the deceased’s children, Vivat Thomas Njie, was intentionally excluded from the list of beneficiaries.
Having gone through the arguments by the parties, and having cited some authorities to support her ruling, Justice Mboob told the court: “The instant action does not constitute a re-listing of the same issues. The discontinued suits related to the inventory of documents and injunctive relief concerning company assets which are matters materially distinct from the present proceedings, which seek the revocation of the Letters of Administration. The present suit raises substantive and weighty allegations concerning the alleged fraudulent administration of the deceased’s estate.”
