Innocent Chukwuma Chairman/CEO of the Innoson Group has withdrawn a suit he filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), GT Bank and 3 other respondents. Chukwuma fondly known by his company name Innoson was arrested this week at his Enugu residence by agents of the EFCC. He has since been released.
The National Assembly has also waded into the matter as the Senate Committee on Anti Corruption and Financial crimes has resolved to investigate his arrest.
Why is he withdrawing the suit ?
Counsel to the Innoson boss, Professor MacCharty Mbaduagha, Innoson’s lawyer, Mbaduagha, announced his client’s intention to withdraw the suit due to a counter motion filed by GT Bank one of the respondents. Justice Rabiu-Shagari, granted Innoson’s request.
Prior to this
Chukwuma has been in a tussle with the EFCC, which allegedly oved to arrest him based on a petition from GT Bank. The EFCC also accused him of shunning several invitations after he was granted an administrative bail, as well as harassing their officers. Chukwuma has since denied both charges, as well as owing the bank. GT has since released a statement explaining its position.
The saga so far
The dispute between the company and GTB began in 2012. Innoson Nigeria Ltd was a customer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.
Sometime in 2012 Innoson allegedly discovered that GTB imposed and debited its current account with over N700 million excess and unlawful charges. It claimed GTB failed and refused to refund the N700 million to Innoson. GTB denies this claim.
The company then took the bank to court and was awarded the sum of N4.7 billion with interest as a judgement debt. The bank has since appealed the judgement but lost the appeal. Reports suggest it has since taken the matter to the supreme court.
Aparr from a standard press release on the website of the Njgerian srock exchange, GTB is yet to comment extensively on this matter as it is still sub judice. Thus, information about this case appears to have come mostly from the perspective of Innoson Group.
