COURT OF APPEAL COMES TO THE RESCUE OF A BANK WHICH ERRONEOUSLY CREDITED ITS DEBTOR WITH N20M

The Respondents, Office Devices Ltd. & Mr Boni Obieze, owed the Appellant, Keystone Bank Ltd., the sum of about N18.6m. While the debt remained unpaid, the Bank erroneously credited the Respondents’ account with the sum of N20m.

The Respondents, seeing the N20M as some form of miracle, immediately put same into use until they drew the last kobo of it. This happened while the Bank awaited a directive to reverse the credit. All efforts to get the Respondents to return the funds proved abortive.

Frustrated, the Bank wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and also filed a negative Credit Risks Management System (CRMS) report against the Respondents to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Respondents sued the Bank at the High Court of Lagos State claiming that the contents of the petition to the EFCC and the CRMS report defamed them. Their contention was that they did not divert the funds but invested same into business ventures that could bring quick returns.

The trial Court held the Bank liable for the tort of defamation and awarded damages.

Aggrieved, the Bank appealed to the Court of Appeal which held that the trial Court failed to properly evaluate the evidence/or glossed over the same.

After a thorough evaluation of the facts, the Court had no difficulty demystifying the Respondents’ intrigues.

See the reasoning of Hon. Justice Abimbola Osarugue Obaseki-Adejumo, JCA in link below.


See the intrigues, mischief and the miracle...

https://stephenlegal.ng/court-of-appeal-comes-to-the-rescue-of-a-bank-which-erroneously-credited-its-debtor-with-n20m/

Eyah