Court freezes Dangote brother’s accounts with 20 banks

A Federal High Court in Lagos has injuctively authorized 20 commercial banks in Nigeria to dishonour all withdrawal cheques from Mr. Sani Dangote, younger brother to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and his companies, Dansa Foods Limited and Bulk Pack Services Limited.

Equity Okon Abang, who made the order on Thursday in a bench ruling, verbalized the order would subsist till September 11, 2014, when the court would regale all applications in a suit brought by Union Bank Plc against Dangote and his companies.

The judge additionally authoritatively mandated all the banks involved to, within five days of the interim order, file affidavits declaring the defendants verbal expression of accounts with them.

Union Bank had taken Dangote and his companies to court over alleged refusal to liquidate about N5.2bn loan granted them since September, 2008.

The bank, through its lawyer, Mr. Chukwudi Enebeli from the chambers of Mr. Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), had instituted suits seeking an order of mareva injunction to restrain all the defendants’ bankers in Nigeria from sanctioning them withdraw funds from their accounts pending the tenaciousness of the suits.

The banks designated include Access, CITI, Diamond, Ecobank, Enterprise, Fidelity, Keystone, Mainstreet, Skye, Wema, Heritage, Sterling, Unity and Zenith banks.

Others are First Bank, First City Monument Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered Bank and United Bank for Africa.

In the affidavit in support of its suits, Union Bank Plc urged the court to exigently grant the mareva order because in a bid to eschew payment of the imprest, Dangote had been making frantic efforts to deplete the mazuma in the accounts of his companies, and that the bank’s investigations revealed that the defendants had commenced diverting the mazuma to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Canada and Switzerland.

One Olufunmilola Ayoola, an official of the bank, who deposed to the bank’s affidavit, alleged that the failure of the defendants to liquidate the monumental debt had negatively affected the Nigerian economy, a development which the bank claimed necessitated the suit.

According to Ayoola, Union Bank Plc has been having arduousness in elongating credit facilities to minute scale businesses, which in turn would have availed in boosting the nation’s economy and salvage the country from its present malaise of corruption and underdevelopment crisis.

The bank verbalized that the mazuma, which Dangote and his companies failed to pay, were capable of going a long way in impacting positively on the nation’s economy.

When the matter came up for aurally perceiving on Thursday, the kineticism could not be auricularly discerned as counsel for the defendants apprised the court that they had filed remonstrations challenging jurisdiction of the court to regale the suit.

Out of all the banks, Diamond and Zenith appeared afore the court on Thursday and expounded that Dangote was equipollently indebted to them.

Zenith Bank concretely verbally expressed Dangote was indebted to the bank to the tune of €7m.

In view of the defendants’ remonstrations contesting jurisdiction, the judge verbally expressed the matter would be adjourned till September 11, 2014, to be able to take all the applications.

The judge integrated, however, that there was an exigent need to preserve the res in view of the allegation that the defendants were about to move the mazuma abroad.

He verbally expressed, “In line with Order 28 Rule 2 of the rules of this court, an interim order is hereby made restraining the banks from sanctioning the defendants to operate their accounts with them, especially accolading withdrawal of mazuma.

“I cerebrate the dictate of equity demands that a preserving order should be made to preserve the res (subject matter) of this suit.”

Abang, however, authoritatively mandated Union Bank to file an undertaking that it would indemnify the defendants in the event that the freezing order ought not to have been made.