From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has overturned a Mareva injunction that froze the assets of General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL) and its directors.
Justice Dehinde Dipeolu in his ruling agreed with counsel to the 2nd and 5th defendants; Abiodun Layonu, SAN and Olumide Aju, SAN, that the exparte injunction violated an existing order from a court of concurrent jurisdiction.
Justice Dipeolu held that the Mareva injunction should be set aside when compared to an earlier order issued by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa in suit No. 1953.
The court found that First Bank of Nigeria and FBNQuest Ltd, who sought the injunction, suppressed facts by not fully disclosing Justice Lewis-Allagoa’s order, making the Mareva injunction incompatible with the previous ruling.
The judge accused First Bank of deliberately “suppressing facts” to mislead the court into granting the order against GHL.
Consequently, the court was left with no option but to lift the freezing order affecting GHL’s accounts and those of all other defendants.
Also listed in the case is the founder and Chairman of the ThisDay/Arise Media Group, Nduka Obaigbena.
First Bank had approached the court with an ex parte application against General Hydrocarbons Limited and 15 other entities, even though there was already a ruling in place.
In response to the suit, GHL and other defendants urged the court to discharge the order that froze their assets, arguing that the court had been misled into granting it.
GHL contended that the order was obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment of material facts. The oil firm and the other applicants accused First Bank of misleading the court to secure orders against them.
They asserted that had all the relevant facts been presented to the trial judge, the order against them would not have been granted. The trial judge ultimately upheld GHL’s arguments and set aside the freezing order.
Meanwhile, GHL’s directors, also adversely affected by the ex parte freezing order, have initiated legal proceedings worldwide against First Bank, seeking $1 billion each in damages for defamation and wrongful freezing of their accounts. Additionally, GHL is filing a complaint with the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee against First Bank lawyers, Babajide Koku, SAN, and Victor Ogude, SAN, for unprofessional conduct.