Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Innoson Group, Innocent Chukwuma has sought a Court of Appeal motion seeking a stay of execution in response to a bench order issued yesterday by a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.
Justice Mojisola Dada of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday issued an arrest warrant, instructing the police to produce him in court on the 1st of March.
Innoson’s response
Counsel to Innoson, JB Mbadugha had filed a motion before the court of appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the high court to hear the matter.
He also stated that an identical case between both parties was currently before a Federal High Court, thus terming it an abuse of court process.
In addition, Mbadugha was of the opinion that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC had no right to investigate, charge and prosecute Chukwuma for fraud.
Prior to this
Innoson has had a running battle with the EFCC, following a petition allegedly submitted by Guaranty Trust Bank. This climaxed with his arrest last year. The National Assembly waded into the matter as the Senate instructed its committee on Anti Corruption and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the circumstances of his arrest.
Chukwuma and his brother are accused of forging documents which were used to obtain motorcycle spare parts. He has however denied those charges.
Rather, he has accused the bank of instituting the petition in a bid to avoid paying a judgment sum awarded against it.
Innoson, in 2012, had allegedly discovered that his current account with GT Bank had been wrongly debited by over ₦700 million. Subsequently, the company took the bank to court and was awarded judgment in the sum of ₦4.7 billion with 22% interest on the judgment debt.
A Court of Appeal of Ibadan division affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court and ordered GTB to pay ₦2.4 billion to Innoson. The bank appealed the ruling to the Supreme court but lost the case.
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