A bank customer, Anthony Okpala has dragged Eco Bank to
court for allegedly infringing on his human rights.
In a suit No: ID/3532MFHR/16 filed against the bank at the
Lagos State High Court, Ikeja through his lawyer, Mr. Okpala is claiming N50m
as damages.
Okpala is a businessman who based in Lagos he is the CEO of,
Mashuchun International Ltd, deals on importation of electronics,
building materials and assembling and installation of energy prepaid meters.
In a sworn affidavit of 29 paragraph deposed by Mr. Okpala,
he stated that his travail with the bank started when he was invited to Ikotun,
Lagos, branch of the bank by one Mr. Agwu Olugu, the Resident Internal
Control officer (RICO) of Ecobank for interrogation over N10m that was
transferred to his company’s Bank account by a customer, Mr. Rabiu Lawal.
Okpala said he admitted to Olugu that there was such a
transaction and it was done in good faith at the Ejigbo, Fadu, Lagos branch of
the bank in the presence of Mr. Oluwafemi Oladele, a staff of
Ecobank, he is also the witness in the business agreement signed by both
parties.
Okpala added that he was taken in by the assurances of Mr.
Oluwafemi, who in addition told him that he has been the account officer to
Rabiu, right from the branch where the account domiciled before he was posted
to Fadu branch, that he knows Rabiu very well.
Apparently, satisfied with his explanation, the RICO, let
him go but agreed to invite him any time their Complainant is available
at the branch, more so as his corporate and current accounts with the
bank is still running by himself and his company.
Events however took a turn for the worse when bank
officials with men described as policemen from Ikoyi divisional police station,
Lagos, stormed Okpala’s residential estate in the middle of the night and
harassed the residents on a day Okpala fortunately was away on a business
trip.
According to a resident who pleaded anonymity, the men who
stormed the area were hefty and armed but appeared in mufti.Their suspicious
appearance and presence raised the doubt of the estate security men, who
demanded to know their identity, but without success to block them leaving the
premises, hence the men forced their way into Okpala’s compound. The raiders however
claimed they were from Ikoyi Divisional Police Station, Lagos. The team said to
have been headed by one Sgt Tope Ijatuyi and one Damian Oguiye threatened
to shoot anybody that obstructed them from effecting Okpala’s arrest.
According to the anonymous resident, the invaders came in a
Nissan Almera with registration No: LND 365 CW.
Investigation shows that this invasion is in contravention
of an earlier court order restraining the Ecobank and or its agents from
harassing or arresting any person in the matter pending at the High Court,
whose bailiff had served the suit filed by Okpala against the bank to Ecobank
and Ikoyi police station.
The police officers apparently ignored the court process
served on them and arrested and detained Okpala.
Curiously at the Ikoyi police station (IPO), where
Okpala was interrogated, Sgt. Demian Oguinye, told him that the amount was no
longer 10 million, but over N14m, made up of another N4milion and N10,000
allegedly stolen by him from a woman, now deceased.
In the course of investigation, Sgt. Damian Oguinye snapshot
Mr Okpala and Aghanenu with his personal mobile phone and threatened to send to
all media houses for publication, hence Okpala is stubborn in complying with
his demand of money. He actually through the Ikoyi Police Division
maliciously published the photograph of Okpala and one Ikechukwu Aghanenu, a
senior Eco bank staff for alleged fraud on the 12th day of August
2016.
Taken aback by this development, Okpala in a statement
insisted that the said N4m was payment made to his company by a customer
that bought fire well cooking stove, brand 641 for which the duplicate of the
sales receipt are available. Okpala in addition, claimed that Sgt Damian
Oguinye, Inspector Rohdar
Bartholomew, forcefully collected N400, 000.00 from him with the ostensible aim
of recovering his alleged debt to Ecobank. In the process, he claimed, the
police destroyed his blackberry phone and hand bag.
Okpala said he has never denied receiving any money, but
insisted that Ecobank should provide their complainant to make his statement to
confirm or deny the transaction rather than resort to strong arms tactics to
rubbish his reputation as an astute businessman.
When contacted on phone, Ikechukwu Aghanenu, the bank
senior staff whose photograph was published alongside Okpala, said that he
is a victim of circumstance as he was never brought before the bank
disciplinary committee to defend his involvement and face possible sanction,
but was instead suspended indefinitely, insisting that there is more in the
case than meets the eye.
“In fact, I have more to tell. The transaction was normal, I
didn’t see any fraud, the customer was in the branch physically, at EcoBank
Fadu branch. I was pushed out of office while I have role to play in recovering
the money, if actually the customer that instigated the transfer denied been at
the bank physically on the date the transaction was made. It was as if there is
something some people are hiding for me, if not they wouldn’t have pushed me
out of office and charged to court without facing apanel at the headquarters.”
In his statement to the police, Mr Adetunji Adedeji, said
that the said Rabiu claimed to have left Nigeria since 2011, his account was
operated sometime in 2013 and in 2015, which made him phone the bank and send a
massage through customer service that he is not the one that instructed and
authorized the bank to transfer the money to the beneficiary account,
that Eco bank staff, Mr. Ikechukwu Aghanenu instructed that Rabiu’s email
address should be changed. He also mentioned the N4 million from a diseased
investor, though he said there was no complain about it but when the bank was
scrutinizing Okpala’s company account they noticed this transfer and that is
the reason it was included in the case against the latter.”
On the strength of this statement, Okpala is insisting that
the bank is maliciously weaving a web of intrigues around him, because,
according to him, the same Mr. Adetunji Adedeji, alongside Mr.Ayo Yinka,
Mr. Adeyinka Adeleke and Mrs. Sotunde Dolapo, all Ecobank staff, on their
own, allegedly forced one Mr. Awojure David to copy an undertaking drafted
by one of them, Ayo Yinka of Ecobank, Gbagada Branch, to paint Okpala and
his company in bad light.
Awojure who once sold generators to Okpala’s company,when
contacted, confirmed Okpala’s statement, stating that Ecobank staff at the
bank’s bulk room at Areromi, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, branch, maltreated him, on the
strength of his admission that his company which deals on fairly used generators
sold generator to Okpala’s company in 2015. He said that his involvement
started when it came to payment and the company that bought the generator
requested an Eco bank account for the payment.
He said: “It was then my company advised me to give my
personal bank account to receive the money as we supplied the generator to the
customer. Recently, I went to the branch and affected a transfer of money to a
customer that we bought generators from, for resell. I was surprised when
the seller customer kept calling that the amount we transferred to him was not
in his account. I then went back to the bank the following day, only to
encounter the CSM of the branch, Mrs. Sotunde Dolapo, who instructed the bank
security to collect my phones and forced me into their bulk room,
insisting that I refund N650, 000.00 that the customer said I defrauded him. I
refused.I was beaten and threatened that if I delayed signing the form the CSM,
Dolapo brought to enable her remove the said amount from my account back
to the company account of Mashuchun International LTD, which I really don’t
know about. I was forced to sign the transfer form and from there I was ferried
to Gbagada branch of Ecobank with armed police men in their bullion van. When I
pleaded for my safety they let me go only on the condition that I copied a
drafted undertaking by one of the men at the place. I copied their drafted
undertaking and was let go after several hours. I really thank God.”
The question is where is the money? Did the bank in its
illegal bid to recover the alleged missing N10m diverted it?
He said: “My lawyer has filed a N100million naira suit
against the bank for infringing on my rights. We have equally petitioned the
Inspector General of Police about Ecobank in our submission; “ Threat To Life
cum False Imprisonment.” I really don’t know my offence and till this moment
they have not returned the money to my account, and Mashuchun Company account
where they told me that the money is been returned said they didn’t receive
such payment alert.”
“The court case is going on at the State High court Ikeja
while the IGP assigned the case to Commissioner of Police Lagos State Command
to investigate. Currently, the CP X-quad is investigating the case, and it was
there the brave police officers uncovered the man that drafted the undertaking
for me to copy, as I couldn’t look at their faces due the beaten and slaps were
much.”
To untie these knots embarrassing and frustrating legal
knots surrounding him, Okpala decided to include the services of another lawyer
apart from Barrister Umeh, who filed the earlier case at the Lagos High Court.
Even so, Umeh said the police threatened him. According to
him, Sgt Tope Ijatuyi has harassed him and threatened to deal with him unless
he withdrew the suit he filed against them for his client at the state High
Court Ikeja.
He said: “I equally petitioned the Lagos State Ministry of
Justice and Chief Judge of Lagos as the police threat continues. The Chief
Judge, I know, has forwarded the case to the Commissioner of
Police, Lagos state, and I was contacted by the Police Complaint Unit of
the state command to make statement to this affect, and we are still hoping to
hear the outcome of the police investigation to that affect”.
R.O.A Awobeku, the other Lawyer has petitioned the
Inspector General of Police. In the petition, Okpala faulted the attitude of
the police and Ecobank through its staff, Mr. Adetunji Adedeji Akanbi, stating
that his harassment, torture and the publication of fraud against him, are all malicious.
Awobeku, on the other hand said that Ikoyi Divisional
police lacks the jurisdiction to investigate and or charging the case to
court.The case, he maintains, should have been reported at the police station
close to the bank or any of the following; the state headquarters, the Special
fraud unit, state CID, or Zonal Headquarters.
He is however optimistic that justice will prevail at the
end with the intervention of the IGP.
“We thank God for the intervention of the IGP to have
assigned his special team to carry out a thorough investigation to unveil the
perpetrators of this evil”, he said.
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