Mobile Money Customer Sues MTN For Allowing Third Party Withdrawal

A businessman , Mr John Padmon, has sued mobile telecommunication giant, MTN for allowing a third party to withdraw a sum of Ghc52, 550, from his mobile money account without his consent between August 26, 2015 and September 1 of that same year.

Mr Padmon is demanding an amount of Ghc10 billion from MTN for unlawfully withdrawing the said amount to a third party, when the company has not received any instruction for the withdrawal to be made.

The District Court at Kaneshie, will begin the hearing the case after lawyers for the plaintiff, Mr Martin Kpebu, filed the suit on August 19, 2021.

The plaintiff, who is a youth advocate in his reliefs, is seeking for recovery of his money which belongs to a movement he heads which is by name Ghana Youth Movement, as well as interest to be paid.

The plaintiff, is also asking the court to make a declaration to the defendant for breaching a contract between them by allowing the Municipal Chief Executive Officer for Kintampo, Mr Justice Michael Baffoe to withdraw the said amount when the MCE, had caused his unlawful arrest.

According to court documents, the plaintiff who is a youth development activist, had travelled to Kintampo in April 2015, for a youth outreach programme during which he decided to introduce himself to the then MCE, Mr Justice Michael Baffoe.

The plaintiff states that, he had told the MCE, he was there to empower the youth by giving financial assistance, which was one of the aims of the movement.

The revelation of providing financial assistance , Mr Padmon indicated, triggered the curiosity of the MCE, who demanded to know how much he was empowering the youth with .

The statement of claim, continued that the MCE, demanded for the money to be given to him to disburse, instead after he told him the amount was Ghc52,550 .

It was after his refusal to let him disburse the money when the MCE ordered his arrest and initially forced him to reveal his pin code, but again refused.

The refusal at this moment then infuriated the MCE, who went to the MTN office with two police officers and got the staff at the company to initiate the daily minimum withdrawals of Ghc1000 for the entire period until all the Ghc52,550, was emptied from his account.

The legal action had to be taken against MTN after the company failed to respond to a second letter from the victim’s first lawyer, Isaac Tetteh Comey- Oblittey in October 2015, asking them to explain their unprofessional conduct and flagrant violation of local and international banking rules.

In the only letter dated October 28, 2015, MTN justified their action with the claims that Mr Padmon was a subject of criminal investigation and that he gave instruction to his wife for the withdrawals to be made.

In that second letter which Mr Padmon’s lawyer wrote in October 2015, he denied ever giving his pin to his wife, saying that due to the harassment from the MCE with the Police at his disposal when he was in detention, he gave a wrong pin and that, it is not true he gave his pin to his wife.

The lawyer in his letter contended that even if Mr Padmon, had given his pin to his wife, it was the duty of MTN to protect his account when they have not received any instruction from him to do same

Credit: TheHeraldGhana