Court Urged To Confirm Removal Of Company Chairman
Four limited liability companies, Relais International, Rock Edge Estate and Property Development Limited, Sarah Holding Limited and Lotalan Nigeria Limited, in a renewed legal battle, are urging a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to declare that Chief Alex Duduyemi was validly removed as director and chairman of Bureau Veritas Nigeria Limited by the majority shareholders of the company.
The plaintiffs are also urging the court to order the defendants to produce statement of foreign account of the company maintained of BNP Paris.
Joined alongside Chief Duduyemi as defendants are an audit firm, Ernest and Young, one Yusuf Aliu and Bureau Veritas Company.
In an affidavit sworn to by a director of Rock Edge Estate and Property Development Company, Alhaji Hayatu Inuwa, it was alleged that the plaintiff companies are shareholders in Bureau Veritas and constitute 26.25 per cent of the company.
The dispute between the parties arose some time in 2005, when it was discovered that the company was not being properly managed and consequently, calls were made for the production of its statement of account between 2001 and 2005.
During this period, it was discovered that a foreign bank accounts had been opened on behalf of the company for years without the knowledge of the shareholders and members of Relais International Nigeria Limited and the authorisation of board of directors, while the statement prepared by Ernest and Young Audit Firm were found to contain series of inconsistencies and distortions.
The defendant claimed that the plaintiffs were not entitled to information regarding the foreign accounts and upon further enquiries, it was discovered that the foreign accounts were in Euros and US dollars.
Due to the inconsistencies in the 2005 statement of account and the existence of the said foreign accounts, the accounts were not approved by members during the annual general meeting of the company till date, while all efforts to make the chief executive officer of the company, Chris Loft, to provide information as to how the affairs of the company were run between 2001 and 2005 by the production of the account prove abortive.
Therefore, the plaintiffs passed a resolution on 16 July, 2008, removing Alex Duduyemi as director and chairman of the board of directors of Bureau Vertias and appointed Ambassador Hassan Adamu as the new chairman and Alhaji Hayatu Inuwa, as director.
In view of this, the plaintiffs are urging the court not only to confirm the removal of Alex Duduyemi as the chairman of the company, but to also compel the defendants to produce the original statement of foreign accounts of the company maintained at BNP Paris between 2001 and 2005 for clarification.
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