N69.4bn Debt: Court Rejects Jimoh Ibrahim’s Bid To Reclaim Seized Property
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday rejected an application by businessman Jimoh Ibrahim seeking to reclaim his seized property.
Mr Ibrahim’s property were seized by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) over alleged indebtedness to the tune of N69.4billion.
The corporation had on November 4, 2020, obtained an interim order to seize about 12 property from Ibrahim and his firms, Nicon Investment Limited and Global Fleet Oil and Gas Limited, in a bid to recover the alleged debt.
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However, Ibrahim, NICON Investment Ltd and Global Fleet Oil and Gas Ltd, approached the court seeking an order to set aside the order obtained based on “non-disclosure and misrepresentation of material facts.”
They further urged the court to order AMCON to pay N50 billion indemnity for alleged failure to conduct due diligence before obtaining the said order and for misrepresentation and concealment of facts.
However, ruling on the application on Tuesday, Justice Rilwan Aikawa upheld AMCON’s argument that it made full and substantial disclosure of all material facts at the time of obtaining the orders on November 4, 2020.
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He said, “I have carefully studied the respective applications and arguments for or against of parties. I agree totally with the counsel for the claimant Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) that this suit is sui generis as Section 49(1)(2) of the AMCON Act says that the order made on the 4th of November, 2020, can be made ex-parte on mere suspicion that the rest is about to be dissipated.
“In my opinion, we have a unique situation here. The application that led to the ex-parte order made on the 4th of November 2020 was brought pursuant to the provisions of AMCON Act which defines this as a Federal High Court.
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“I do not think that based on the above reasons, that this application has made a case out for the order of this court to be vacated. The appropriate order to be made in this circumstance is to dismiss same and, accordingly, this application is hereby dismissed.”
Justice Aikawa adjourned till March 9 for further proceedings.
