STANDARD CHARTERED BANK ZIMBABWE LTD v CHINA SHOUGANG INTERNATIONAL 2013 (2) ZLR 385 (S)

Flynote

Bank — client — bank's obligations to — moneys paid by client into bank — ownership of such moneys — bank's duty to repay money to client on demand — bank surrendering money in client's account to Reserve Bank in obedience to unlawful directive — bank nonetheless obliged to repay money to client on demand

Contract — performance — impossibility — supervening impossibility — where defence applicable — directive by exchange control authority to bank to pay monies held in a customer's bank account to Reserve Bank — directive held to be ultra vires — cannot amount to a supervening impossibility — defence to a claim against bank inapplicable

Exchange control — Reserve Bank — directive to commercial bank to surrender money in client's foreign currency account — lawfulness of such directive — directive ultra vires s 35(c) of Exchange Control Regulations (SI 109 of 1996)