The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and 14 other banks of the 17 ordered by an FCT High Court to show cause why plea for garnishee of alleged accounts operated by Imo Government should not be made absolute, have denied overseeing the state’s accounts.
The denials were contained in the respondents briefs filed by the concerned banks and made available to newsmen yesterday in Abuja, by Anthony Agbonlahor, counsel for the judgment creditors.
A garnishee order is a common form of enforcing a judgment debt against a debtor to recover money. The court enforces the payment of such debt through a third party who holds funds belonging to the judgment debtor.
The judgment creditors, E.F. Network Nig Ltd and Gideon Egbuchulam, on April 17, approached the court with an ex parte motion praying it to compel 17 banks allegedly overseeing Imo government accounts to effect the payment.
Justice Bello Kawu granted the prayer by directing the listed banks to show cause why the order should not be made absolute.
The banks were CBN, Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Jaiz Bank, Union Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA), First Bank Plc, Ecobank Plc, Keystone Bank Plc, and Diamond Bank Plc.
The rest were Fidelity Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Plc, GTBank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc, and FCMB Bank Plc.
The Supreme Court had on March affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Owerri which ordered the state defendants to pay the N1 billion contract debt owed the judgment creditors.
The apex court held that the appeal filed by the Imo State government and Governor Rochas Okorocha challenging the judgment of the lower court was not meritorious.
However, going by the respondents brief filed by the 17 banks, 14 of them denied overseeing any Imo government accounts.