UBA head quaters
Treasure Capital and Trusts Limited, a
financial services operator and a leading
brand in securities trading, has slammed a
N5.45 billion law suit on United Bank for Africa
Plc in Suit No. LD/464/2013 for loss of income
it suffered as a consequence of the mareva
injunction wrongfully procured and executed
against it by the bank.
UBA was said to have in 2011 instituted a suit
against Mobil Workers (Eket) Multi-Purpose
Co-operative Society Limited in which the
bank joined Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited
as a co-defendant in Suit No.FHC/L/
CS/697/2011: United Bank for Africa Plc vs
Mobil Workers (EKET) Multi-purpose
Cooperative Society Limited and 4 others.
The bank was said to have sued for
enforcement of outstanding indebtedness of
Mobil Workers (Eket) Multi-Purpose Co-
operative Society Limited to it.
However, Treasure Capital and Trusts was
joined as a co-defendant in the suit by the
bank in what the company described as the
total lack of privity of contract in Treasure
Capital & Trusts Limited in respect of the
relationship between the bank and Mobil
Workers (Eket) Multi-Purpose Co-operative
Society Limited.
It was gathered that subsequent to the
institution of the law suit, UBA Plc applied for
both interim and interlocutory mareva
injunctions against the defendants in the suit
including Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited.
The mareva injunction was to freeze the
assets of Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited
including all such funds standing to its credit
with Ecobank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First Bank
Plc, Oceanic Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc,
Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc,
First City Monument Bank Plc and Bank PHB
Plc.
In the applications, UBA was said to have
given undertakings to indemnify the
respondents in the applications including
Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited, in damages
if it turns out that the applications for mareva
injunctions ought not to have been made in
the first place.
Consistent with the reliefs sought in the
applications and further emboldened by the
undertakings as to damages, the Federal High
Court, Lagos granted the orders of interim and
interlocutory mareva injunctions against
Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited.
However, disturbed by the orders of mareva
injunction against it when in fact there was no
reasonable cause of action disclosed in the
suit against Treasure Capital & Trusts Limited,
the latter applied to the court to strike out its
name from the suit for non-disclosure of
reasonable cause of action against it and for
lack of jurisdiction on the Federal High Court.
After a painstaking review of UBA’s claim in the
suit, the court struck out the name of Treasure
Capital & Trusts Limited from the suit
confirming that the order of mareva injunctions
ought not to have been made against the
company.
It was gathered that before the mareva
injuctions were lifted from the company’s
name by the court, Treasure Capital’s business
was completely shut down for a period of
about two years owing to inability to perform
any transaction on the affected accounts. The
company said it was unable to conduct its
businesses as its entire accounts were
suspended and all on-going transactions were
truncated as there was no account to settle its
transactions. “Treasure Capital & Trusts
Limited was exposed to huge financial loss of
about N5.45 billion as a consequence of the
mareva injunctions granted against it,” a
source said.
According to the source, Treasure Capital &
Trusts Limited instituted the said suit with No.
LD/464/2013 against UBA Plc to enforce the
undertaking as to damages given by the bank.
The undertaking as to damages is to restore
the affected party, as much as money can
compensate, to the financial position that the
affected party would have been but for the
mareva injunction.
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