The case between GT Bank and Innoson Motors took another turn yesterday after the local car manufacturer sent out a tweet with the heading “Innoson Takes over GTB over N8.7 Billion Judgment debt; as Supreme Court Dismiss GTB’s Appeal”

In a series of tweets published by the company, it claimed it “through a Writ of FiFa taken over Guaranty Trust Bank PLC for and on behalf of Innoson Nigeria Ltd as a result of the Bank’s indebtedness to Innoson Nigeria Ltd.”. It also claimed this was based on “a landmark decision” on February 27th, 2019, where “the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed GTB’s appeal – SC. 694/2014- against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division.”

See thread below;

Press Release

Breaking: Innoson Takes over GTB over N8.7 Billion Judgment debt; as Supreme Court Dismiss GTB’s Appeal

The Chairman of Innoson Group, Chief Dr Innocent Chukwuma, OFR has through a Writ of FiFa taken over Guaranty Trust Bank PLC for and on behalf pic.twitter.com/lZ2dHXLFbB

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

of Innoson Nigeria Ltd as a result of the Bank’s indebtedness to Innoson Nigeria Ltd. In a landmark decision on February 27th 2019, the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed GTB’s appeal – SC. 694/2014- against the judgment of Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division.

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

The Court of Appeal, Ibadan division had in its decision of 6th February 2014 dismissed GTB’s appeal against the Federal High Court, Ibadan Division.

Thus, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court, Ibadan Division which ordered GTB by way of

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

Garnishee order absolute – to pay N2.4 Billion to Innoson with a 22% interest, per annum, on the judgment sum until the final liquidation of the judgment debt.

Rather than obey the judgment of the Court of Appeal,

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

GTB approached the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision.

However in an ruling delivered by Honourable Olabode Rhodes-Vivour JSC on Wednesday, February 27th2019, the Lord Justices of the Supreme Court (JSC) dismissed GTB’s appeal and thus affirmed

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

the concurrent judgment of both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, Ibadan Division which ordered GTB by way of Garnishee order absolute – to pay N2.4 Billion to Innoson with a 22% interest, per annum, on the judgment until the final liquidation of the judgment.

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

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The Judgment debt of N2.4B has an accrued interest as at today of about N6,717,909,849.96 which results to about N8.8 Billion.

Based on the Supreme Court’s decision of 27th February 2019 the counsel to Innoson, Prof McCarthy Mbadugha ESQ, had approached the Federal High Court,

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

Awka Division for leave to enforce the judgment having obtained Certificates of Judgment from the Ibadan Division of the Federal High Court.

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

Having obtained the requisite leave, the Federal High Court issued the necessary process for levying execution – the Writ of Fifa.

Cornel Osigwe
Head of Corporate Communications
Innoson Group

— Innoson Vehicles (@innosonvehicles) March 29, 2019

]/blockquote>

Innosons’ claim against GT Bank

We won  – The company claims that GT Bank lost a Supreme Court appeal for it to rescind the lower court’s decision for it to pay back Innoson N2.4 billion plus interest at 22% per annum in “illegal charges” against the car maker. Thus, since GT Bank lost as it claimed, it further went ahead to obtain a Writ of FiFa (an abbreviation for Writ of Fieri Facias) granting it authority to take over any GT Bank branch that is worth the N2.4 billion plus the interest it claims the bank owes.

What is a Writ of Fieri – Basically this is a court document used by the successful plaintiff to enforce the judgment of a court by taking a lien on a property of the defendant that it believes is worth more than the amount being owed.

Does it mean Innoson has taken over GT Bank as its tweet depicts – The headline was purely sensational and in no way means it has taken over GT Bank. Rather, if the judgment was consistent with Innoson’s claim that it won, it will either have to sell a GT Bank property to recover its claims or get a direct payment from the bank.

How much is involved ? – According to Innoson its claim is about “The Judgment debt of N2.4 billion has an accrued interest as at today of about N6,717,909,849.96 which results in about N8.8 Billion.” The accrued interest is this much because it is calculated from when Innnoson first obtained a favourable judgment. And since GT Bank kept appealing, the interest kept piling up.  So if true, GT Bank is on the hook to pay almost N9 billion in damages.

Will this hurt GT bank ? – GT Bank is one of the biggest banks in Nigeria with a shareholder’s fund of over N575 billion. It surely has enough cash to pay and may have even provided for this judgment debt if it loses.

Deepdive into the background story of this case.

UPDATE

Guaranty Trust Bank has since responded to the supposed take over.

In a press release sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), it stated that the order pertained to an account domiciled with it, and not the bank as an entity.

The judgment allegedly in issue is in respect of garnishee proceedings against the account of the Nigeria Customs Service domiciled with the bank, and not the bank as an entity. 

The lender also stated that it was taking all necessary steps to address the situation.

The bank as a law-abiding corporate citizen is taking all necessary steps to address the situation and to ensure that no illegal or fraudulent execution is carried out.