A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, has issued an order restraining Sterling Bank and its agents from dissipating, confiscating or selling properties owned by an indigenous firm, Zomay Marine Logistics Limited, over conflicting unpaid debts.
The court presided over by Justice Frank Onyiri gave the order while ruling on an interlocutory application brought by counsel to Zomay
Marine Logistics Limited is seeking to restrain the commercial bank from sealing and taking over its properties in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, which were used as collateral for a loan.
The Indigenous firm, through its counsel, Chief Chris Okeke, SAN, filed an interlocutory application before the court after the bank sealed its property at Plot 330 Tombia Street in Port Harcourt and frozen its accounts over conflicting unpaid debts.
In the ruling, which lasted for about one hour and twenty minutes, Justice Onyiri held that the respondents/defendants acted in bad faith by concealing the appointment of Mr. Kunle Ogumba as receiving managers of the properties belonging to Zomay Marine Logistics Limited.
Justice Onyiri found that the defendants/respondents failed to reveal the entire debt owed by the company to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), during a reconciliatory engagement with both parties. The court also found that an independent investigation commissioned by Zomay Marine Logistics Limited revealed that Sterling Bank has fraudulently operated its accounts and issued loans which the company is not aware of.
On whether the application is an abuse of court process, the court found that the claimants/applicants had already served the defendants/respondents an order of status quo issued by the court on 4th of March this year before going ahead to file another suit at the federal high court in Port Harcourt. Justice Onyiri also held that the court has jurisdiction to entertain the suit since it was filed before the applicants/claimants became aware of the pendency of another suit at the federal high court in Abuja and in Port Harcourt.
He said that, based on the evidence before the court, Zomay Marine Logistics Limited had paid the bank three billion naira on the understanding that it was the entire amount owed. The judge also held that it was wrong for the bank to freeze the Indigenous firm’s accounts without waiting for the conclusion of the CBN intervention.
In granting the two reliefs sought by Zomay Marine Logistics Limited, the court held that the receiver/manager of the debt collateral has not acted in good faith by concealing information as provided in section 553(1) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
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