The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Nneka Chinwe Onyeali-Ikpe, has been sentenced to six weeks imprisonment by a Chief Magistrate Court at Ogba, Lagos on Monday.
She was sentenced over disobedience of a garnishee order of court restraining the bank from allowing a judgment debtor access to his account.
Joined with the Managing Director to serve the imprisonment is the Company Secretary of the bank, Ezinwa Unuigboje.
Magistrate Lateef Owolabi gave the sentence following a garnishee order he gave on December 6, 2022, asking 16 banks not to allow a judgment debtor, Prince Enabulele Ozaze access to his bank accounts pending the payment of N2.8 million judgment debts in suit involving the sale of a Toyota Corolla car.
Magistrate Owolabi had given judgment on October 13, 2022, in favour of the plaintiff, Jibrin Ahmed, who sued the defendant over the payment of N2.8 million, he made to the defendant for the purchase of a Toyota Corolla car.
According to Magistrate Owolabi in the judgment, the claim before the court was summons used in action for debt or liquidated money demand with or without interest.
According to him, Liquidated demand is one ascertainable as a matter of arithmetic precision without further investigation.
“I have examined the whole process filed by the claimant and hold that the claimant is entitled to judgment not necessarily because the defendant is absent, but because the claimant has made a case worthy of being entitled to judgment. The totalities of evidence presented are relevant and reliable”. The Judge said.
However, the magistrate, thereafter, entered judgment against the defendant in the sum of N2.8 million, which is due to the claimant over the transaction that took place in July 2022.
Also recall that the claimant’s lawyer, Alayo Akanbi filed a garnishee proceeding before the court and attached 17 banks, and asked the court to stop the banks from allowing the defendant to draw money from his accounts with them pending the liquidation of the debt.
The garnishee order was granted on December 6, 2022.
But on January 25, 2023, the claimant, now judgment creditor deposed to an affidavit before the court where he showed that the garnishee order has been flouted by Fidelity bank.
The claimant showed how the judgment debtor had been withdrawing funds from his account to the extent that he had depleted the funds in his account with Fidelity bank.
According to the Claimant, the judgment debtor had N3, 165, 759.05k in his account with Fidelity bank as at January 12, 2023, when the garnishee order was served on the bank.
But by January 15, three days after service, the judgment debtor had withdrawn N725, 547.80k from the account.
He said the following day, January 16, 2023, another N251,305.90, was transferred out of the bank.
Also, on January 17, the legal officer of the bank Obianuju Nwosu confirmed service on the bank as at December 22, 2022 and further apologized for the transactions on the account.
He explained that on January 18, 2023, the court ordered that the Managing Director, and Company Secretary to appear in person before the court to explain why they should not be committed to prison for allowing the judgment debtor to dissipate the funds in his account after the service of the garnishee order.
At the sitting on Monday February 6, the Managing Director and Company failed to attend the court sitting as ordered. Lawyer to the judgment creditor told the court how the two had disobeyed the garnishee order of the court.
Magistrate Owolabi in his ruling sentenced the Managing Director and Company Secretary to six weeks imprisonment each. He further ordered Lagos State Commissioner of Police and any officer under his command to arrest the duo, bring them to court for onward transfer to the appropriate correctional center
