In a bid to seek legal redress for alleged economic misfortune suffered as a result of their accounts frozen in 15 different banks by means of unjustifiable court order obtained by Guaranty Trust bank Plc, four limited liability companies, Innoson Nigeria Ltd, Innoson Technical and Industrial Company, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company and Innoson Autoparts Manufacturing Company have slammed N30billion lawsuit on the bank.
According to a statement of claim filed before a Federal High Court in Awka, Southeast, Nigeria, by a Lagos lawyer, Professor MacCarthy Mbadugha, the companies said that what led to the current legal hostility started on 1 September, 2014 when Guaranty Trust Bank Plc served on Innoson Nigeria Limited a court order dated 1 September, 2014 with suit number FHC/L/CS/1119/2014 filed before a Federal High Court in Lagos, Southwest, Nigeria, between Guaranty Trust Bank and Innoson Nigeria Limited issued by Justice Okon Abang ordering that pending the hearing and the determination of the substantive suit all commercial banks in Nigeria are restrained from accepting, honouring, or giving effect in any manner whatsoever to any mandate or instruction presented to them by Innoson Company or any of its agents or nominees for withdrawal of any sum of money standing to the credit of any account maintained by the company in all the banks.
In the said order of the court the bank indemnified the company as to any loss that may be incurred in the unlikely event that the application ought not to have been granted.
The company operates Current Accounts in 15 banks of eighteen banks listed in the order.
The basis of the bank’s action against the company was that the company is allegedly indebted to the bank to the sum of N1.5 billion and that rather than the company repay the loan, it diverted same and was in the process of dissipating its assets in order to avoid repaying the loan.
Based on this court order, all the companies accounts were frozen. Consequently,the activities of the companies were grounded as the companies could not pay duties and clearing of imported goods,thereby incurring heavy demurrage.
The halt of production by the companies resulted in loss of business and profit, deterioration of some of its raw materials, as they became unfit for use, staff were rendered redundant whilst they continued to pay salaries, some of the Chinese expatriates left the company for China while some of them were paid $66,000 dollars per month for seven months during their redundancy to avoid heavy cost of searching for expertise of their caliber given their skills.
Their machines also began to deteriorate because machines were not functioning.
The plaintiff companies averred that the action of the bank injured their credibility and presented them as bad debtors.
However, on the 10th of June, 2015, base on an application and titanic legal argument presented by Mbadugha that the order was obtained by the bank by suppression, concealment or failure to disclose material facts before the court to set aside the order, Justice Saliu Saidu set aside the order and as well as struck out the entire suit freezing the accounts of the plaintiffs but before the order was set aside the companies have incurred monumental losses running into billions of naira as enumerated above.
Consequently, the claims of the companies against GTB are as follows:
N20Billion being special damages arising from the bank’s unlawful freezing of the companies accounts in fifteen banks from 1st of September 2014 to 15th of June 2015.
(ii) N5 billion for reputational and injuring the companies.
(iii) N5Billion as general damages and 22 per cent interest on the sum claimed till judgement is delivered and same rate till liquidation of the judgement debt.
Meanwhile, based on an application filed before the court on behalf of the companies, the court has ordered that all court processes should be served on Guaranty Trust bank Plc at its Headquarters at Plot 1669 Oyin Jolayemi street, Victoria island Lagos South West Nigeria.
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