HipTV’s Ayo Animashaun denies company take over

HipTV founder, Ayo Animashaun, has debunked the rumour that Heritage Bank Plc has taken over the cable television channel.

Animashaun took to his Instagram page to react to viral reports which claimed that a court has ruled in favour of the bank.

According to him:

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“The last few days have been interesting, to say the least. The news has been flooded with all kinds of propaganda, but I’d rather talk facts. The fact is, @Officialhiptv has not been taken over by any bank. We are open for business and running our operations as usual…”

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The last few days have been interesting, to say the least. The news has been flooded with all kinds of propaganda, but I'd rather talk facts. The fact is, @Officialhiptv has not been taken over by any bank. We are open for business and running our operations as usual. Also, we ARE in court with Heritage Bank and are confident that we will find justice based on the merits of our case. A financial audit revealed that there are almost 200m worth of charges that have been fraudulently debited from our account by the bank. This same bank also debited insurance premiums from our accounts WITHOUT remitting the funds to the Insurance company, resulting in massive losses worth over N500 million, when we experienced a fire incident that should have been covered. We have been in discussions with the bank for 2 years, hoping for a peaceful settlement, but it is clear that this matter must now be escalated to the courts for justice to prevail. In an effort to be civil, courteous and patient, we have ended up victimized and taken advantage of – but we will not be bullied any longer. It is sad that the same institution that claims it wants to work with their customers to create wealth, a name and a heritage, is the same institution now trying to maltreat, defraud and smear the company name and brand we have worked so tirelessly over the years to build. I'd like to thank everyone for their support, encouragement and prayers, and I promise you that Hip TV will not stop fighting this legally, until our name has been cleared and justice is served. #heritagebullybank #probeyourbank #bullybank

A post shared by Ayo Animashaun (@ayoanimashaun) on Apr 16, 2019 at 10:25am PDT

The lingering legal tussle between Heritage Bank Plc and HipTV

Smooth Promotions, the owner of HipTV, earlier accused Heritage Bank of breaching all acceptable professional conduct with respect to a transaction that has been the subject of a protracted disagreement.

Smooth Promotions also asked the court to reverse over N185 million in interest rates over and above the agreed interest rate and other unwholesome, spurious, unjustifiable, and illegal entries inputted into its account as at February 2017. These charges were revealed by an independent audit of the company’s accounts stretching back to 2013.

The company says it had a huge loss – According to the court papers, the company says it lost in excess of N533,927,562 owing to the failure and refusal of Heritage Bank Plc to insure its property against risk like fire, and or provide information to Smooth Promotions as to insurance on its property following a fire incident on November 6, 2017, despite debiting Smooth Promotions for the insurance premium.

The suit was filed by Kemi Pinheiro LP at a Lagos federal high court, alleging that Heritage Bank Plc fraudulently deducted insurance premium from Smooth Promotions account without remitting the money to the insurance company; charged interests that were not agreed; and a forensic audit found that almost N200 million worth of charges were not correct.