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Debtors & Recovery | |
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Tuesday, December 15, 2020 / 5:26 PM / Honeywell /Header Image Credit: PM News
Counsel
to Honeywell Group, Mr Olabode Olanipekun (SAN), Monday 14th December 2020,
said that his client would be seeking a Supreme Court intervention and review
of the Court of Appeal judgement on its protracted case with Ecobank.
The
Court of Appeal, in a recent judgement had reversed the pronouncement of the
Federal High Court, Lagos delivered in May 2019, where the lower court in its
judgement affirmed that operating companies of Honeywell Group were not in any
way indebted to Ecobank.
In a
reaction to the decision of the Court of Appeal, Honeywell Group's General
Counsel Olasumbo Abolaji has said Honeywell remains convinced that it has a
compelling case and it is ready to appeal the judgement of the Court of Appeal.
According to her, "Litigants can seek relief up to the Supreme Court.
Consequently, the decision of the Court of Appeal is definitely not final on
this matter".
She
reminded our correspondent that in the course of the court action, at least 10
decisions had been the subject of appeals both at the Court of Appeal and the
Supreme Court stages and that Honeywell largely recorded victories at those
stages based on the strength of its arguments. "We believe in the Nigerian Judicial
System and we will take our case further to the Supreme Court." she concluded.
It
will be recalled that Honeywell had in 2015 approached the court to determine
whether or not its three subsidiaries, Anchorage Leisures Ltd, Honeywell Flour
Mills Plc, and Siloam Global Limited were still indebted to Ecobank after
having reached an agreement to pay the sum of N3.5billion as full and final
settlement of the companies' indebtedness.
Testifying
at the lower court during the trial, Honeywell Group's Chief Finance Officer
(CFO), Oluwakemi Owasanoye told the court that by an agreement reached at a
meeting held on July 22, 2013, the bank agreed to merge the collective
indebtedness of Honeywell's three subsidiaries, which amounted to N3.5billion
with the negotiations anchored by Honeywell Group Limited.
Owasanoye
added that part of the agreement reached with the bank was that N500million
must be paid immediately, while the balance of N3billion would be paid before
the exit of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) examiners from the bank, without
any specific stipulation on number of tranches. According to her
testimony, Honeywell complied with the terms of the agreement, and thereafter
wrote to inform the bank of its compliance and the need for the bank to formally
discharge the company of any further obligation. She stated that the bank in
its reply to the letter did not raise any objections. Honeywell, she said, was
however surprised when the bank proceeded to demand for further payments in
respect of the debt which had been fully liquidated for over a year.
She
further stated in her testimony that when the dispute arose, the Company
referred the matter to the Bankers' Committee which resolved the matter in
favour of Honeywell.
In
view of Honeywell's decision to appeal the Court of Appeal's judgement, the
legal tussle which began in 2015, will now continue at the Supreme Court.
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