Court Adjourns $23m Loan Suit between Firm and Dantata Till Dec 6

Wale Ignintade

A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has adjourned further hearing till December 6, 2023 in a $47 million loan suit between an investment company, Nichole Integrated Investments Limited, and oil magnate, Sayyu Dantata and his three companies, MRS Holdings Company Limited, MRS Oil Nigeria PLC, and Bestaf Trading Company Limited.

The trial judge, Justice Yetunde Pinheiro, on the adjourned date will hear two applications, one, a mareva injunction from the claimants seeking order of Mareva injunction restraining all the four defendants jointly and severally from paying out any money standing to the credit or for the benefit of the respondents from the under-listed accounts pending the determination of the suit. 

The court will also hear an order of mareva injunction restraining the defendants, particularly the 4th defendant from disposing, alienating, and or transferring the large expanse of land measuring 400,000 square meters situate at Lekki Free Trade Zone Phase 2, Ibeju-Lekki pending the hearing and determination of the suit

Alternatively, the claimants seek the order of court directing the defendants jointly and severally to pay the sum of $23,359,626 being the amount claimed as the balance outstanding from the total loan sum of $44,516,000 facility given by the claimants to the defendants under contract on the 5th of August 2009, or the naira equivalent at the current bank rate.

The banks listed on the mareva application are GTBank, Coronation Merchant Bank, Access Bank Plc, WEMA Bank Plc, First Bank, Zenith Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC, and Sterling Bank.

The other application is the one filed by the defendants seeking the court to stay proceedings pending the determination of an appeal they filed at the Court of Appeal, Lagos to determine whether the lower court has jurisdiction to hear the suit since according to them, the claimant’s suit is statute barred. There application on this issue had earlier been over-ruled by the ADR judge, Justice Folami.

When the matter came up for hearing on of November 17, the claimant’s lawyer, Dele Adesina SAN, informed the court that he was ready to move his application for mareva injunction and that the application is not opposed as the defendants/respondents have failed to file  counter affidavit to the application.

At this point, Norrison Quakers SAN informed the court that they filed a counter affidavit on November 1 and that the claimants counsel refused service of same.

 He drew the attention of the court to an affidavit of refusal of service filed before the court. At this point, Adesina told the court that his office was never served with any counter affidavit insisting that his office has never refused service of any process. “My lord, I am speaking from the Bar. I’m telling this court that we were not served the counter affidavit”.