A High Court of the Federal
Capital Territory in Apo, Abuja,
on Monday ordered Guaranty
Trust Bank Plc to refund N5.3bn
illegally withdrawn from the
account of one its customers, Dr. Ted Edwards.
Justice Valentine Ashi, in his
judgment, ordered that the
N5.3bn should attract 10 per
cent interest from Monday,
when judgment was delivered,
till the time the money was paid back to the owner.

The court also ordered that the
money should attract another
21 per cent interest from
December 12, 2014 when GTB
allowed the illegal
withdrawal, until the fund was eventually paid back to
Edwards.

The judge, while reviewing
the case in his judgment, held
that the bank did not have any
defence to its action of the
withdrawal of the total sum of
N5,240,516,186.21 from the customer’s account and
thereby ordered the bank to
pay the money to the owner
through his Zenith Bank Plc
account.

Edward, a lawyer of Edwards
and Partners Law Firm, had
initiated the suit, FCT/HC/
CV/939/2015, in January 2015
following the alleged illegal
withdrawal of the money on December 12, 2014.

The money was paid into the
plaintiff’s law firm’s account
with the GTB on January 2,
2014 by the Accountant-
General of the Federation,
Jonah Otunla.

The money was said to be for
the settlement of a judgment
got by his clients, Impecca
Services Limited and His Royal
Highness, Eze Ezekwo, against
the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, as cost
of consultancy services they
rendered to the 774 local
governments. But in his judgment on Monday,
Justice Ashi struck out the
Central Bank of Nigeria, the
Accountant General of the
Federation, Minister of State
for Finance, Anaocha Local Government Area, and the
Incorporated Trustees of
ALGON from the suit as
defendants on the grounds that
they were not necessary
parties. The plaintiff stated, in the
suit’s originating processes,
that shortly after the money
was paid into his account on
behalf of his clients, GTB made
some disbursements from the account as directed, but that he
was only informed on
December 12 by an official of
the bank that the Central Bank
of Nigeria had withdrawn the
N5.3bn. He said that when he enquired
from the bank why it made
deduction from his account
without his consent, he said
GTB only insisted that the
withdrawal was made in obedience to CBN directive,
which it could not disobey. Justice Ashi held in his
judgment that GTB betrayed
the banker-customer
relationship between it and
the plaintiff. The judge held that it was
wrong for GTB to have made
withdrawal from the
customer’s account without
the customer’s knowledge and
consent. The judge held that GTB’s claim
that it was helpless and that
the withdrawal was at the
instance of CBN was not
tenable. Source: PunchNg

A friend of mine has been complaining of the same thing.