Recently, the Innoson/GTBank
story has gained so much media prominence, especially following the arrest of
the Innonson chairman a few days ago by EFCC.
Though the case is pending in
court, Innoson has taken the battle to social media. There have been numerous
sponsored social media campaigns against the Bank such as #BewareOfGTBank and
#WhatIsWrongWithGTBank. The company has also gone Television, with its owner,
Dr Innocent Chukwuma granting an interview to TVC, where he claimed he had
obtained a judgement of N8bn against the bank. He added that the bank pleaded
with him over their inability to pay, and that he graciously offered to accept
shares of the bank as payment.
GTBank on their part has chosen
to remain silent on the matter, perhaps trusting in the integrity of the legal
system as against playing to the gallery. Many attempts by us to get the bank’s
representatives to comment on the story has proven abortive. A staff of the
bank who spoke under anonymity, stated “Irrespective of the issues we are
facing with the company, Innoson remains a customer of the bank and we owe him a
duty of confidentiality and to conduct ourselves in a responsible manner
towards him”. This statement didn’t stop us from conducting our own
investigations on the matter, and below are our findings, put in bullet points
for your optimum understanding.
The obvious:
Innoson is, and still remains, a
customer of GTBank.
GTBank not behind Innocent
Chukwuma’s arrest as EFCC states N1.4bn fraud and usage of forged documents to
secure tax waivers as reason for arrest
What we discovered:
1. GTBank (in 2009) granted Innoson several
credit facilities (i.e loans) totalling N2,400,000,000,00 (two billion, four
hundred million Naira only), to part finance working capital requirements,
import new motorcycles and motorcycle spare parts, agricultural spare parts and
plastic manufacturing equipment (“Imported Goods”).
2. Under the loan terms agreed by Chief
Innocent Chukwuma on behalf of Innoson, proprietary interest in the Imported
Goods was consigned exclusively in favour of the Bank. This means that the Bank
was the exclusive owner of the Imported Goods. Accordingly, the original
shipping documents (i.e. the Bills of Lading) were in the custody of the Bank,
and have remained in the custody of the Bank at all times.
3. Because GTBank was the exclusive owner of
the imported goods, ownership of the goods could only be transferred to Innoson
(or any other third party) by the Bank. The condition in the agreement between
the Bank and Innoson, for the release of the Imported Goods by the Bank to
Innoson, was the payment of 25% of the value of each Letter of Credit
transaction by Innoson.
What we learnt:
1. Innocent Chukwuma approached the Bank, on
behalf of Innoson, requesting the release of the shipping documents without
payment of the agreed+ 25% equity. The Bank declined his request as a result of
Innoson’s failure to meet the agreed conditions.
2. It came to the Bank’s knowledge sometime in
June, 2011 that the Imported Goods for which the Bank declined to release
shipping documents to Innoson in view of its failure to meet the agreed
conditions, had been fraudulently procured by Innoson.
3. The Bank discovered that Innoson, under the
control of Dr. Innocent Chukwuma had forged the Bank’s endorsement on the bills
of lading to the Shipping Line and fraudulently cleared the Imported Goods
which were in the name of the Bank. The Imported Goods, being property of the
Bank should not have been cleared from the Port without the original shipping
documents being endorsed by the Bank in favour of Innoson, or any third party.
4. The signatures of 4 (four) staff of the
Bank, to wit, Taofeek Olalere, Dan Attah, Bunmi Adeyemi and Amazu Amalachukwu,
as well as the Bank’s stamp were forged on all the shipping documents used by
Innoson to fraudulently clear goods at the port. The Bank did not at any time
endorse or transfer the shipping documents to Innoson, as the originals of each
of the relevant Bill of Lading remain in the Bank’s custody to this very day.
5. When the Bank reported the matter to the
Nigeria Police, Dr. Innocent Chukwuma claimed the Bank released the shipping
documents to him. Consequently, the Police commenced investigation into the
Bank’s complaint, including a forensic examination of the disputed signatures,
and established that the signatures of the Bank’s staff were forged, and the
Imported Goods were fraudulently cleared from the Nigerian Ports Authority by
Dr. Innocent Chukwuma and his accomplices.
What we heard from the Police:
1. Police investigations confirmed that
Innoson and Dr. Innocent Chukwuma deliberately set out to defraud, steal from
the Bank and convert the Imported Goods belonging to the Bank by deceptive
means and through forgery and misrepresentation. The unlawful takeover of the
Imported Goods, which served as the Bank’s collateral, left an indebtedness in
excess of the sum of N1,654,481,895.04 (one billion, six hundred and fifty four
million, four hundred and eighty one thousand, eight hundred and ninety five
Naira, four Kobo) as at September 26, 2012.
2. Chief Innocent Chukwuma was arrested and
interrogated by operatives of the EFCC, following which he agreed to make
monthly payments into Innoson’s account until the full liquidation of Innoson’s
indebtedness to the Bank. However, Innoson defaulted in making the agreed
payments. Investigations by the Nigeria Police following a petition by the Bank
in September 2013 also found Innoson and Chief Innocent Chukwuma culpable of
the criminal allegations levied against them by the Bank, and Chief Innocent
Chukwuma was accordingly charged to court by the Police.
3. The Police filed Charge No.
FHC/L/565C/2015-Inspector General Of Police And Innoson Nigeria Limited;
Innocent Chukwuma; Charles Chukwuma; Maximian Chukwura; Mitsui Osk Lines;
Annajekwu Sunny for fraudulent clearance of goods, forgery, conversion,
stealing and conspiracy presently pending before Faji J, at the Federal High
Court, Ikoyi and adjourned to November 21, 2017 for arraignment/or hearing of
motion for issuance of Bench Warrant.
What Innoson did:
1. Innoson approached the Bank for a
reconciliation of his account and pleaded for a debt forgiveness. A
reconciliation was carried out on the account – which had a debit balance of
N1,654,481,895.04 as at December 31, 2011. In the spirit of amicable resolution
and EFCC intervention, the Bank said it agreed to forego the sum of
N559,374,072.09 which represented default charges that has accrued on the
account and debited in line with the loan agreement between the customer and
the Bank.
2. Based on this, the Bank decided to accept
from the customer, the sum of N1,095,107,822.95 as full and final payment of
the customer’s indebtedness to the Bank, provided that same shall be fully paid
not later than (30) days from the date of the letter written to him
3. Surprisingly, Innoson commenced suit
no:FHC/AWK/CS/2012 against the Bank at the Federal High Court, Awka stating the
bank had debited its account with excess charges totalling N559,374,072.09 and
obtained judgement in excess of N4.7Billion against the Bank. Again choosing to
dishonour an agreement that was amicable reached between him and the Bank for a
full and final settlement of N1,095,107,822.95 wherein the Bank graciously
forgave him the sum of N559,374,072.09 which accrued on his account during the
period which he abandoned his account.
4. To further stall the criminal proceedings
against him, Chief Innocent Chukwuma and his company instituted suits at the
Federal High Court, Abuja, as well as the Federal High Court, Awka in January
2014 against The Inspector General of Police, The Nigeria Police Force and
Investigating Officer(s), seeking declaratory and injunctive reliefs, including
orders restraining the Police from commencing criminal proceedings against
Innoson and Chief Innocent Chukwuma. Furthermore, in a bid to stall the Bank’s recovery
steps, and distract the Bank from focusing on the criminal action, as well as
civil actions filed for recovery of the debt, Chief Innocent Chukwuma and his
company Innoson, have continued to institute various spurious suits before
various courts, claiming frivolous and outrageous sums against the Bank.
What EFCC is Saying
In a statement issued by the Head
of Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Wilson
Uwujaren, he said, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released
Nnewi, Anambra-State born Industrialist, Chief Innocent Chukwuma on bail.
“The business man who runs a
local auto assembly plant was arrested on Tuesday December 19, 2017 at his
Enugu residence, following his refusal to respond to invitations by the
Commission, after initially being granted administrative bail by the
Commission, while his surety could also not be found.
“Unfortunately the industrialist
resisted arrest and stirred controversy by bringing six truck-loads of thugs to
block the entrance to his Plot W1, Industrial Layout, Abakaliki Road, Emeni,
Enugu, home.
“This was after he initially
misled the Police Command by informing them that his home had been invaded by
armed robbers and kidnappers despite the fact that operatives of the Commission
duly identified themselves to policemen guarding his home.
“His unruly thugs encircled and
manhandled operatives of the Commission who had gone to effect the arrest.
Consequently, a distress call was sent to the Commission’s Enugu Office for
reinforcement.
“In all of this, the Commission’s
operatives acted with decorum and civility. No one was manhandled or assaulted
by the EFCC team, and not a single shot was fired, despite the provocation.
“Chief Chukwuma and his brother,
Charles Chukwuma (who is still at large), are being investigated by the
Insurance and Capital Market Fraud Section of the Commission’s office in Lagos
over matters bordering on N1, 478, 366, 859.66 fraud and forgery.
‘The industrialist, among other
infractions, allegedly used forged documents to secure tax waivers.”
What GTBank is not saying:
1. In responding to Innoson’s
motion for a stay of criminal proceedings at the Court of Appeal, the
Honourable Justice J.S Ikyegh on September 17,2017 dismissed the motion for
being unmeritorious and ordered that proceeding in the criminal case against
Innson should proceed.
2. On October 12, 2017, the
Police through its Charge No. FHC/L/565C/2015- filed an application for the
issuance of bench warrant against Innocent Chukwuma; Charles Chukwuma and
Annajekwu Sunny for fraudulent clearance of goods, forgery, conversion,
stealing and conspiracy presently pending before Faji J, at the Federal High
Court, Ikoyi and adjourned to Decemeber 8, 2017 for arraignment/or hearing of
motion.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
The facts of this Innoson arrest clearly show that the man is really a crook. He's only hiding under the cloak of being an industrialist and employer of labor to defraud banks and the government. And to think that our gullible lawmakers and the media could fall for his cheap antics call for great reflection on the values of our nation.
ReplyDeleteLET THE PROFESSIONALS HANDLE YOUR FARMING ACTIVITIES
ReplyDeleteContact us today at ARITENIC FARMS SERVICES for your:
• Farms set up like Poultry, Piggery, Fishery, Snail.
• Cultivation of cash crops like cassava, maize, plantain etc
• We have land for lease and sale for farming activities.
• You can partake in our ongoing Smart Farmers partnership scheme; where you earn 20% to 30% yearly return on your farming investment.
• We supply cash crops to industries for industrial use, such as Cassava, Soya beans, Dry maize, Sesame seed, Millet, Cocoa, Cashew nut, palm oil, Palm Kernel, Tapioca, etc
• We also write Business Proposal on farming (both cash crops and livestock) for our clients.
You can call us on 08028481931, 08052667140 or 08176037757 or you can send an email to aritenicfarms@gmail.com
Same old write-up with different title. Lots of contradictions between this story and EFCC's statement. Please go do your research before publish fake news!!
ReplyDelete