News Investigators/ A financial institution, Mega Microfinance Bank Limited, has been dragged before an Abuja High Court for N500 million in damages over alleged fraudulent misrepresentation.
The bank was alleged to have made false claims against a firm, Wetech Industry Limited, in its bid to obtain credit report on the firm from First Central Credit Bureau (FCCB).
Wetech, in the suit filed by its lawyer, Eloka Okoye of the law firm of Kehinde and Partners LP, accused the bank of engaging in false misrepresentation when it claimed that the company applied to it for credit facility.
The suit, marked CV/4867/2024, was filed before Justice B. Abubakar sitting in Apo.
Wetech had accused Mega Microfinance Bank, an Abuja-based financial institution, of telling FCCB that it (Wetech) applied for credit, when it knew that the claimant was neither its customer nor applied for credit from it.
Wetech’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Liu Yangxi, stated, in his witness statement, that the bank, without the knowledge and consent of his company, obtained a credit report from the FCCB on Dec. 28, 2023.
“The credit report was obtained under the guise that the claimant (Wetech) applied for a credit facility from the defendant (the bank).
“The claimant has never, through myself or any other director or agents applied for a credit facility from the defendant.
“The claimant does not have any form of relationship with the defendant.
“Upon realising that the defendant unlawfully obtained a credit report against the claimant, the claimant, through its counsel wrote to the defendant, requesting the alleged application that necessitated its obtaining the credit report from the FCCB.
“Till date, the defendant has neither responded to the claimant’s letter, nor reached out to the claimant through any other means.
“The claimant avers that the credit report was obtained under false pretence, owing to the fact that the claimant has never applied for a credit facility from the defendant.
“The claimant has suffered great loss due to the actions of the defendant against it,” Yangxi said.
Wetech is therefore praying the court to among others, declare that Mega Microfinance’s request to FCCB for credit report on it (the claimant) under the guise that it applied for credit from it (the bank) when in fact, there was no such application for credit amounts to fraudulent misrepresentation.
It wants the court to declare the credit report obtained by the bank on the claimant, through fraudulent misrepresentation, as illegally obtained and therefore unlawful.
The claimant also wants the court to declare the bank’s possession of the credit report without its consent, as unlawful, adding that the bank should be ordered to disclose the person who instructed it to obtain the credit report on the claimant.
It further seeks an order awarding the sum of N500 million against the defendant as general damages for unlawfully obtaining and possessing the credit report against the claimant through fraudulent misrepresentation, among others.
Justice Abubakar fixed Feb. 13, 2025 for hearing.
NAN