NDIC wins N1.4b case against Gulf Bank debtors

Sixteen years after, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), has secured a judgment against Jolimair Nigeria Limited and three other debtors, who owed the defunct Gulf Bank Plc a sum of over N1.49billion.

In a debt recovery suit number: FHC/L/CS/1328/17 – NDIC (Gulf Bank) vs. Jolimair Nigeria Limited & 3 Others, the Corporation, prayed the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, for the recovery jointly and severally from the respondents of the total debt sum of about N1.495billion.

In a statement by the NDIC, signed by its Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Dr. Sunday  Oluyemi, the amount was due and payable by
Jolimair Nigeria Limited to the Gulf Bank (in-liquidation) as at January 16th, 2006, when the defunct bank’s operating licence was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The amount was in respect of the banking facilities granted by the bank in-liquidation and guaranteed by three other respondents in the suit; Joseph Samir Karkar, Abbas Shour and Patrick Sule Uduka. When the matter came up for judgment on January 31st, the presiding Judge, Honourable Justice Ibrahim Buba, granted the reliefs sought by the NDIC in respect of the N1.495billion debt.

The judge said the respondents failed to tender any documents before the court to prove that their indebtedness to the bank in-liquidation had been settled, adding that people like them were responsible for the failure of the bank.

The court also agreed with the NDIC that the respondents owed interest on the total debt sum calculated from the 16th January, 2006, at the rate of 21 per cent per annum until the whole debt was fully liquidated, in addition to a cost of N500,000.00 awarded against the respondents.

Recall that the NDIC, in exercise of its power as the liquidator of Gulf Bank (in-liquidation) instituted the debt recovery case against Jolimair Nigeria Limited in 2017, under the Failed Banks Act to recover the outstanding sum of about N1.495billion owed to the defunct bank by the respondents

Culled From guardian.ng