The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has won a $478 million international arbitration award against Sibton Switch Limited.
The lawsuit before the London International Court of Arbitration (LCIA) also resulted in Sibton Switch being forced to pay the Bank a significant sum for its legal expenses and arbitration costs.
According to a Bank of Ghana statement, its Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, expressed satisfaction with the Bank’s favorable result in these proceedings, as well as the billions of Ghana Cedis saved.
Sibton Switch filed a lawsuit against Ghana’s Central Bank after the bank terminated the Master Agreement for the Ghana Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure in 2017.
The Bank of Ghana previously granted Sibton Switch Systems a GHS 4.6 billion contract to improve interoperability in mobile money transactions across telecom networks.
The business justified the figure, claiming it was good value for money.
However, due to public outrage, the contract was voided and turned over to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) at a much-reduced cost.
After examining the contract, the Bank of Ghana concluded that “Sibton had not obtained the license nor satisfied the condition precedent for the efficacy of the parties’ rights and obligations.”
The central bank also highlighted that Sibton Switch’s tender price was 33 times more than the second most costly offer.
Following that, in May 2018, the mobile money interoperability platform was released.
During the arbitration, the Arbitral Panel rendered an interim judgment in favor of the Bank of Ghana, ordering Sibton Switch to pay an interim award payment for the security of costs by July 2019.
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