Court set aside Scintilla company’s property sold by AMCON in disregard of court order

    A Federal high court sitting in Lagos south west Nigeria has set aside the sale of a limited liability company’s property by AMCON while a debt recovery suit is still pending against the company

       AMCON had filed a debt recovery suit against a limited liability company Scintilla Limited,it’s Managing Director Mike Chukwu and Quality Aqua Products Limited a sister company to Scintilla Limited.

       Thereafter, AMCON filed an application before the court praying for the interim other of the court to allow it take possession and preserve the   Scintilla’s property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop,KM 20,Lekki Epe Expressway on May 9,2017.The order was granted.

      However it was alleged that,in disobedience and disregard to the order of the court to preserve the property, AMCON sold the property and concealed any fact regarding the amount it sold the property.

   The defendants in thier  application filed and argued before the court by a Lagos Lawyer Barrister Chuks Nwana, the three defendants prayed for the following orders:

An Order of the Court setting aside the sale of the Scintilla’s company property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop,KM 20,Lekki Epe Expressway by AMCON to the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries the fourth Defendant during the pendency of the debt recovery suit.

     An Order of the Court declaring the purported sale of the company’s property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop, KM 20, Lekki Epe Expressway by ANCON to the 4th Defendant Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries an abuse of judicial process therefore null and void.

     An Order of the Court directing the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries the 4th Defendant or whoever is in possession of the property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop,km 20. Lekki Epe Expressway to vacate same until the final determination of the substantive suit.

     And  for such further or other orders as the Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance

    The six grounds upon which this application was predicated and argued by Barrister Chuks Nwana were enumerated as follows: 

    The AMCON obtained an Order of Possession to preserve Scintilla’s property situate at Eleganza

Bus Stop, KM 20, Lekki Epe Expressway on May 9, 2017 With this suit pending before this Honourable Court, AMCON sold the above subject property to the 4th Defendant Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries on August 31,2017 in complete defiance of the court’s interim order of  Possession to preserve the said property.

   The purported sale of the subject property by AMCON is an abuse of judicial processes and therefore violates the judicial doctrine which stops parties

 from doing anything that will affect the subject matter in an action pending the final determination of the claim.

The AMCON’s sale of the subject property to the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries  is a deliberate abuse of court processes because AMCON  brought this recovery action, obtained the interim Order of Possession, in preservation of the Scintilla company’s property, and then proceeded to sell the said property.

 The action of AMCON has destroyed the res and therefore, judgment of this court will be nugatory before the final determination of this action unless the sale is set aside by this Court forthwith

    The action of AMCON is mala fide in the commencement of this recovery proceeding to legalize the illegality of the sale of the Scintilla company’s property to the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries

In support of this application were an 11 paragraphed Affidavit deposed to by Monday Udoh, a litigation manager in the chambers, of Barrister Chuks Nwana

   On records ,, the Plaintiff AMCON approached the Court under  Order 30 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009 and section 49(1) of the AMCON Act, 2010, with the sole purpose of obtaining the order of this  Court for interim attachment of the properties of the Scintilla company The clear wordings of, the said section 49(1) of the AMCON Act, 2010, provides that: 

“Where the corporation has reasonable cause to believe that a debtor or debtor company is the bonafide owner of any movable or immovable property, It may apply to the Court by motion ex-parte for an order granting possession of the property to the corporation.”

The presiding Judge Tijani Ringim in his ruling said :

    “In my humble opinion, the clear and unambiguous wordings of the said section 49(1) of the AMCON Act, 2010, on the strength of which the interim order of 09/05/2017 was obtained, was only to grant possession to the AMCON, as at then, in order to preserve the res. 

    “Indeed, the only justice in this instant matter is to apply the judicial doctrine lis pendens to the fullest. This seems to be what the Apex Court encourages .lis pendens as defined by the Apex court “a pending legal action and principle behind the doctrine is that the subject matter of a suit should not be transferred to a third party during the pendency  of the suit”

   In this context, there can be no better circumstance to apply the sacred doctrine of “lis pendens”as a mechanism for doing substantial justice than in the instant case. The circumstance painted before me by the uncontroverted depositions of the Defendants in support of their affidavit in  this application were that AMCON was granted order of this Court issued on 09/05/2017 to take possession of the Scintilla company ‘s property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop, Km 20, Lekki Epe Expressway,AMCON colluded to defraud the Scintilla company and sold the said property; to the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries at an undisclosed sum whereas the market value of the property was over N1.2Billion

     In the light of the above findings, I am of the humble view that the justice of this case will be better met when the instant application of the Defendants is granted,Accordingly, this application succeeds and all the three Prayers of the defendants  shall be granted as prayed.”

   1.An Order of this Honourable Court setting aside the sale of the 1st Applicant’s property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop,KM 20,Lekki Epe Expresswayby the Plaintiff/Respondent to the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries  during the pendency of this action.

    2.  An Order of this Honourable Court declaring the purported sale of the Scintilla’s property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop, KM 20, Lekki Epe Expressway the Plaintiff/Respondent to Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries  an abuse of judicial process therefore null and void.

3. An Order of this Honourable Court directing the Incorporated Trustees of Salvation Ministries or whoever is in possession of the property situate at Eleganza Bus Stop,km 20. Lekki Epe Expressway to vacate same until the final determination of the substantive suit.