Contractor Seeks Justice over Alleged Unfair Treatment by Bank

The Chief Executive Officer of Omais Investment Ltd, Chief Omochiere Aisagbonhi has instituted a legal action against Ecobank Nigeria Limited at the Federal High Court, Lagos claiming N2billion for what he alleged as unjust treatment from the bank over his accounts.

He alleged that the bank had made false and unwarranted reports with the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) wrongly listing his company’s name as a debtor, and the CBN was joined as a codefendant in the suit.

Counsel to the claimant, Mr. Ehizogie Esezobor in a writ of summons, FHC/C/CS/382/15, filed a four-point claim against the defenda nts.

In the suit it asked the court for an order directing the first defendant to pay to the plaintiff N2billion as damages for negligence and false statements. Other reliefs sought by the plaintiff in the suit include “an order of restorative injunction directing the first and second defendants to remove the plaintiff’s company name from the CBN’s Credit Risk Management System (CRMS) database as a customer having a ‘non-performing loan’; a declaration that the first defendant’s listing of the plaintiff’s accounts with the CBN’s CRMS database as a non-performing loan amount to negligent statements”.

In its statement of claim the claimant maintained that it used to operate two accounts with the defunct Oceanic Bank International Bank Plc and that following 100 per cent acquisition of Oceanic Bank by the first defendant in 2011, it became its customer, adding that being its bankers, the first defendant owed it a fiduciary duty of care.

It further averred that it operated a corporate account and a Pearl account with the first defendant and that as at October 15, 2009, it had N637,958.69 standing credit in its Pearl account and N301,777.46 in its corporate account as at October 30, 2009 as at the time it stopped transacting and doing business on these accounts with the first defendants.