2 days ago
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By Akin Kuponiyi
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has secured a major court ruling in its N156.03 billion debt recovery dispute with Stallion Group and the Vaswani brothers, after the Federal High Court in Lagos upheld the bank’s receiver-manager appointment, mortgage security and the liability of guarantors.
Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, reportedly resolved the issues before him in UBA’s favour and granted the reliefs sought by the bank, according to a report by MoneyCentral on the judgment.
The court affirmed Romeo Ese Michael as receiver-manager, upholding his authority to take possession of the mortgaged property and seek protective orders to safeguard UBA’s recovery interests.
It also restrained the defendants from diverting receivables due to them from government agencies, a measure intended to protect funds that could be applied towards settling the outstanding debt.
The court held that the defendants did not dispute their indebtedness to UBA but contested the amount owed. It further ruled that the reconciliation of accounts between the parties did not extinguish the debt.
The court also dismissed an objection by the 12th defendant, Barbedos Ventures Limited, after finding that the company had failed to establish proprietary rights over the mortgaged property. Consequently, its consent was not required for the creation of the mortgage, the court held.
UBA instituted the suit in October 2023, claiming N156.03 billion from Stallion Group and related entities. Stallion had previously described the claim as “entirely false.”
The dispute dates back to 2023, when Justice Akintayo Aluko granted UBA orders to take over assets belonging to Stallion Nigeria Limited and its affiliates in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano, and to freeze their funds across Nigerian banks.
The defendants subsequently sought to overturn the orders, but their efforts were unsuccessful in December 2023, according to the account of the proceedings.
Other defendants in the case include Von Automobile Nigeria, Stallion Motors, The Honda Place and company director Sunil Vaswani.
The latest ruling reinforces UBA’s position in the recovery proceedings by upholding the receiver-manager’s appointment, affirming the mortgage security and confirming the liability of the guarantors, as reported.
It also addresses the legal distinction between disputing the amount of a debt and denying the existence of the indebtedness, with the court holding that the reconciliation exercise did not invalidate the debt in this case.
Meanwhile, UBA is using the same receiver-manager to pursue a separate N61.45 billion recovery linked to Western Metal Products Company.
English (US) ·