HAGC gold turned to zinc, court told SWISSAIR sued

By Sani Siddiq

AN ACCRA High Court judge, Mr. Richard Apaloo, is considering a motion from Lynes Quarshie Idun to dismiss a suit filed against Swissair by Ashanti Goldfields on grounds that the AGC had failed to file relevant papers within the required time, despite agreement between the two lawyers representing both litigating parties.

Ashanti had sued Swissair for breach of contract over the loss of 20 kilogrammes of gold bullion valued at $247, 879, 85 which was to be delivered to the Union Bank of Switzerland. AGC is also claiming general damages for breach of contract and breach of duty as a common carrier including interest on the amount from April 1998 till day of the final payment .

Counsel for AGC, Mr Ekow Awoonor, in his statement of claim stated that one of the boxes which contained gold bullion was replaced with another box containing Zinc and Copper during its carriage by Swissair.

However , Lyns Quashie Idun, representing Swissair submitted that AGC is not entitled to its claims.

AGC had claimed on August 5, 1999 that in April last year they delivered to Swissair 14 sealed timber boxes of gold bullion with a gross weight of 324 kilogrammes valued at $2,606, 517.00 and consigned to Union Bank of Switzerland.

The statement further narrated that prior to being delivered to Accra, the boxes containing the gold had been weighed and marked in the presence of the Chief Cashier of Swissair and customs officials before being loaded into an armored vehicle and driven to the Obuasi airstrip for flight to Accra under heavy security.

The statement indicated that upon arrival at the Kotoka Airport the boxes of bullion was re-loaded into an international airport vault in the cargo zone with the two keys being held by Swissair and customs officials .

According to the statement the AGC shipping supervisor issued instructions forms with details of consignee address , quantity, weight and final destination to Swissair, official who in turn issued an airway bill.

After more formalities, the boxes were then placed in the Swissair cargo container which was locked with their metal fixtures on the container and driven to the tarmac, and then loaded on board Swissair craft and placed in a special compartment located in the rear of the aircraft and covered with passengers? luggage .

The statement further noted that after loading the aircraft Swissair representative signed the AGC bullion consignment document and airway bill to confirm the details of the bullion.

The statement noted the Swissair flight took off with a 50 minutes stop over in Lagos Nigeria which was not indicated on the AGC consignment note .

Upon arrival on April ,11 1998, the shipment was transported to the Swiss cargo vault where it remained till April 14 , 1998,when it was loaded onto Crossair a Swissair sister company flight and flown to Lugano in Switzerland.

The statement stressed that when the cargo arrived at the Lugano airport it was noted upon weighing that the cargo which was declared as weighing 324 kgs now weighed 304.5 kgs.

Upon examination of its contents it was discovered that the box with reference number SS463 had been substituted with a box whose contents and upon testing were found to be zinc and copper leading to the weight discrepancy

AGC noted that Swissair have failed to deliver the said box with it original contents of 20 kgs. gold bullion to the consignee in Lugano spite of charging a special high rate for the service.

It was their contention therefore that Swissair was in breach of contract for failing to exercise reasonable care of the bullion in their custody.

However, Swissair in their statement of Defence claimed that the 14 sealed boxes were not opened or weighed in the presence of Swissair officials and therefore not in a position to admit that all or any of the said boxes contained gold bullion or that the gross weight of the boxes was 324 kgs.

Swissair also contended that the vault mentioned is not owned by Swissair but rather it is the property of Ghana Airways and operated by CEPS.

Swissair, denied also that the stop over in Lagos, Nigeria should have been indicated on the consignment note of AGC but admitted that the details of the way bill , quantity of the weight, consignee address and the final destination were supervised by their officials but argued that AGC cannot legitimately contend that any loss suffered was a result of negligence or breach of duty or contract as a result of any act or omission by Swissair.

On Thursday when the case was to be heard, the Judge was absent. Hearing is expected to resume next week.