Court frees staff of Indian firm over $350, 000 debt default

An FCT High Court has ordered the Nigerian Police to release a staff of Indian property firm, Damac Properties LLC over nonrefund of $350, 000.

Justice Yusuf Halilu on Monday ruled that Ankit Gulati, who is the Business Development Manager of the company in Nigeria, is not the alter ego of the company.

Gulati was arrested by an Inspector General of Police squad following an order of another FCT High Court directing his arrest to show cause why the judgment debt would not be recovered from the company.

A Nigerian firm, Profitel Ltd had sued Damac Properties, a Dubai-based company after it failed to refund the $350, 000 it paid for the failed purchase of property in Dubai, UAE in 2011.

The counsel to Profitel, Solomon Aboje said the Nigerian firm made series of payments for the purchase of the 40th floor Burjside Boulevard comprising of six units, one bedroom, two units of bedroom and one unit of three bedrooms in Dubai.

Profitel’s manager, Joseph Waya, in the affidavit attached to the suit, said the apartment was marketed to him by the firm’s Nigerian representative, Musa Shuaibu Abubakar and their Director of Sales, Syed Irshad Rahman as a five-star serviced hotel apartment with 22 percent return on investment Dubai.

He said few months before completion of payment, Damac Properties unilaterally changed the payment terms as well as the purpose, making it residential and not to be leased to the public as a hotel.

Justice Halilu however cautioned counsel to the Indian firm, Nnamdi Ekwem over his initial claim that Gulati is not a staff of the company when evidence showed he was. annually in