Fraud: How Unity Bank Divert Customer’s N25m Revealed

An Ondo High Court on Friday ordered Unity Bank Plc to return the sum of N25 million the bank stole from a customer. Justice O. Osadebayo of Ondo High Court delivered judgement in the case involving the bank (defendant) and Denki Wire and Cable Nigeria Limited(Claimant).

Denki Wire and Cable Nigeria Limited sued Unity Bank Plc for diverting the sum of N25 million from the N60 million intervention fund which Central Bank of Nigeria credited Denki Wire and Cable through Unity Bank Plc.

Justice O.O Osadebayo also said that the building used as collateral for the N10 million loan obtained from the bank be released to the claimant, Engr. E. O. Adewumi of Denki Wire and Cable Limited.

Earlier, Mr Oladimeji Adams, counsel to the claimant, had told the court that Denki Wire and Cable Nigeria Limited had secured the sum of N10 million in overdraft facility from Unity Bank Plc, then known as First Interstate Bank Plc.

According to Oladimeji Adams, when the claimant noticed some discrepancies from the bank, it hired the services of a consultant, who discovered that Unity Bank Plc was overcharging the claimant.

According to him, it was while the case was ongoing, that Central Bank of Nigeria Plc released N60 million to the company through Unity Bank as intervention fund out of which the bank unilaterally without the consent of the customer removed N25 million.

He said Unity Bank Plc denied it when the company approached them for explanation and also denied access to the remaining N35 million that made up the N60 million intervention fund from CBN.

Adams, who spoke with newsmen shortly after the judgment commended the judiciary adding that it was a good omen for industrialists in the state, who had, for long, been subjected to ridiculous charges and undue discrepancies by banks.