BUSINESS NIGCOMSAT, Heritage Bank Why electrocution spar over N811m loan default cases are on the rise – NAPTIN boss
The Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited and Heritage Bank are currently involved in a tussle over a N811.910 million loan, a document sighted by
has shown.
Daily Trust
The crisis started, according to the document, early this year when the commercial bank felt the satellite agency was not keeping to the terms of the loan.
Daily Trust gathered that NIGCOMSAT’s Multipurpose Cooperative Society had obtained “a personal loan from the bank for its members” and “had paid over N827,833,056.21 of the principal of N811, 911.000.”
NIGCOMSAT’s Head, Media Relations Unit, Stephen D. Kwande, alleged that some officials of Heritage Bank had been harassing their staff because of the loan.
He said the agency’s head of legal services had written to the managing director of the bank, demanding an immediate written apology as a result of the actions of the bank staff.
The agency is demanding a payment of N60 million as damages from the bank, according to Kwande.
“The bank chose to embarrass NIGCOMSAT Ltd through assault, intimidation, harassment, and unlawful assemblage at its premises as early as 6:30am to stop operations of the company on Thursday August 17, 2017 as well as to cause loss of revenue and become a nuisance,” he said.
He said similar “unlawful” action was embarked upon by the bank on April 20 this year.
Kwande said the agency believed that if the bank had a case, it should seek legal redress from court of competent jurisdiction.
“It is on this conviction that NIGCOMSAT is giving Heritage Bank 14 days to respond to its demand or face the wrath of the law,” the NIGCOMSAT’s spokesman said.
When contacted, an official at Heritage Bank said: “NIGCOMSAT is still very indebted to the bank. They defaulted on the loan and had accrued interest on the facility.
The official, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “It is wrong to claim that the loan has been fully repaid because it is not true.”
He said the bank began a massive debt recovery drive recently and even had course to protest at the premises of NIGCOMSAT recently, adding that the balance as of 18th of August was N486. 9 million.
The loan was disburse at 18 percent per annum and the total repayment should have amounted to N1.3 billion, interest plus principal. FLIGHT
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