Customer Engages Bank In Legal Battle Over Loan

An aggrieved customer of Oceanic Bank, Suru Worldwide Ventures Nigeria Limited alleged to be owing N15,341,050,642.21, has dragged the bank before a Federal High Court in Lagos, claiming the N36 billion as damages.

According to a statement of claim filed on behalf of Suru Worldwide Ventures before the court by a Lagos lawyer, Mr. Dele Ojogbede, the company deposed that it has been a customer of the bank since 2007, maintaining eight different accounts with it.

The banking relationship, as claimed by the plaintiff, proceeded smoothly and in mutual beneficial manner, until towards the end of 2009, when the bank requested for calling in one of the facilities granted to it in spite of the fact that most of them were still within their tenor range.

In addition, undrawn balances in its accounts were made inaccessible to it which impacted negatively on business and in spite of this situation, the bank continued to charge interest on the frozen balances, after which it classified the plaintiff’s account as none performing loan accounts and subsequently sold the loan to Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), for N8.2 billion, thereby blacklisting the company before the eyes of the financial world with the effect that no Nigerian bank would be willing to finance it again.

The plaintiff alleged further that the bank refused to transfer funds between accounts and dishonoured its cheques when those accounts were in credit.

The bank was also alleged to have carried out various unauthorised withdrawals from the company’s accounts as well as issuing instructions directly to customers and contractors of the plaintiff without due consultation on transactions purporting to terminate contracts which the bank was not privy to, thereby creating impression or suggestion to members of the public that the company was in receivership.

In view of these, the company is claiming N36,581,478,351.56, being special damages arising from losses accruing from the unilateral stoppage of funds from the facilities and unilateral revocation of contracts under the facilities.

The plaintiff is also urging the court to restrain the defendant from selling its property.

However, Oceanic Bank, in its statement of defence and counter claim filed by Olisa Agbakoba and Associates, denied almost all the averments of the plaintiff and urged the court to either dismiss or strike out the entire suit as it is improperly constituted and incompetent as well as lacking the jurisdiction to entertain it.

The bank averred further that the plaintiff was availed 10 different loan and overdraft facilities from 2007 to July 2010 and that the allegation was as a result of intervention of Central Bank of Nigeria as well as introduction of new management that stopped further disbursement of the loan.

The selling of its loan to AMCON was a management decision and not to forestall the project almost completed by the plaintiff, the bank claimed further with counter claim as follows: a declaration that the bank lawfully sold 25 units of the GRA properties of the plaintiff; a declaration that the loans obtained by the plaintiff were rightly classified as none performing and rightly sold to AMCON; an order empowering Oceanic Bank to sell or dispose of the plaintiff’s assets pledged as security for the various loans obtained from the bank; N15,341,05,642.21 representing consolidated balance and N500 million as general damages against the plaintiff.