An Abuja Federal Capital territory High Court has awarded the sum of N540.5million in damages against a new generation bank to one Emmanuel Omalea, a clergy man, over alleged negligence and defamation.
Justice Yusuf Halilu in a judgment Tuesday held that the bank breached its fiduciary duty of care to Omale, which caused him to be summoned by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry in relation to its investigation on a former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.
Omale had filed the suit over the alleged false information that the bank passed to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on a “suspicious credit inflow”, demanding the sum of N1 billion in damages against the bank.
Omale also accused the bank of negligently breaching the fiduciary duty of care in its banker-customer relationship.
Omale told the court that he was summoned by the panel in July 2020 after the bank sometimes in 2016, negligently and falsely in its computer system generated weekly automated report to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) of a “suspicious” credit inflow of 573 million Naira into the church’s corporate account in line with the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
Omale mentioned that the committee had accused Ibrahim Magu, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of using Omale to launder funds abroad.
The claimant said the false alerts, accusations and summons by the panel is a gross defamation on his reputation and which caused him and his ministry great financial losses.
Justice Halilu while giving Judgment noted that the bank claimed that the purported N573m was wrongly reflected as credit entry in the Ministry’s account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded.
The trial judge also held that the claimants provided sufficient evidence to establish case of negligence against the bank.
Justice Halilu however awarded an aggravated damage of N200 million, special damage of N140,500 million, and N200 million in general damages in favour of Omale.
The trial Judge held that the defendants are not just careless and Negligent but also unprofessional.
Editor: Anoyoyo Ogiagboviogie
