Daily Independent CBN Gov-designate, Access Bank MD risk jail over contempt By Tunde Opeseitan, Snr Correspondent, Lagos Justice Samuel Candide-Johnson of the Lagos High Court in Igbosere has threatened to order the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate circumstances surrounding the mysterious depletion of monies in the accounts of a judgment-debtor. The judge, who vowed to get to the root of the matter, said he would order EFCC’s investigation if credible explanations are not provided on the true state of the accounts within seven days from March 19, 2014 by the banks involved – Zenith Bank and Access Bank. Already, the judgment-creditor in the matter, NIYOD Construction Nigeria Limited, has filed Form 48 (notice of consequence of disobedience to court order) against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor-designate and Managing Director of Zenith Bank, Godwin Emefiele and his Access Bank counterpart, Herbert Wigwe. In the Form 48, which was filed by NIYOD’s lawyer, Olumide Aju, Emefiele and Wigwe were warned to comply with a court order requesting details of monies standing to the credit of a judgment-debtor in their respective banks. The Form 48 reads: “Take notice that unless you obey the directions contained in this order, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison.” In the order, the concerned banks were ordered to appear before the court to show cause why the monies standing to the credit of the said judgment-debtor, Silverbird Galleria Limited, should not be attached to satisfy the judgment sum of N211 million with ten per cent post-judgment interest from December 19, 2013 until the judgment is fully liquidated with assessed cost at N20, 000. According to the matter, in 2009, Silverbird secured a multi-billion contract from the Akwa Ibom State Government for construction, design and maintenance of an entertainment centre that would contain, inter alia, an American styled mall, a 250-bedroom five-star hotel, cinema complex, convention centre and two parks.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:41:05 +0000
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