The Lagos Times gathered that In a bid to recover N263.7 million allegedly fraudulently deducted from its account, a limited liability company, Amador Energy Services, has filed a suit against First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Plc.
The bank has however swiftly returned a salvo, urging the federal high court in Lagos to throw out the case on grounds that it is based on trumped-up claims which are void and of no substance.
Amador Energy had in its statement of claim sworn to by its managing director Mrs Cecilia Olusola averred that the bank had on December 2, 2015 transferred in three tranches the total sum of N263.7 million from its current account which it stylized as deposit increase but never placed the amount in a fixed deposit account.
Before then both parties had reached an agreement for FCMB to at agreed intervals deduct a fixed amount from the plaintiff’s current account and return same with interest upon maturity.
The company is alleging that in this particular instance, the bank neither placed the deducted sum in any fixed deposit account nor returned it to its current account. It is therefore praying the court to award it N263.7 million with 21% interest from December 2015 till date, N50 million as general damages and N10 million as legal costs.
While contesting the company’s claims, FCMB stated that Amador Energy’s MD Mrs Cecilia Olusola was at all times aware of and authorized all transactions made on her company’s current account. It further averred that she entered into a clandestine personal relationship with the bank’s late account officer Olisameka Nwakobi and colluded with same to carry out all manner of illegal transactions on the current account.
It claimed that the opening balance of the plaintiff’s current account at December 2, 2015 was N260.6 million contrary to the N551.1 million claimed by the plaintiff. It said it was the discovery of the fraudulent activities being carried out on the current account by Mr Nwakobi with the active connivance of Mrs Majekodunmi that resulted in the former committing suicide, after which event Majekodunmi hurriedly transferred funds out of the current account in order to bring a false claim of fraud against FCMB.