Business
The Cable’s Fact Check Says Honeywell Doesn’t Owe EcoBank N13.5B
“an agreement was reached that the companies”
Independent online newspaper, The Cable, has found that “Ecobank’s claim that the apex court ruled that there is a N13.5 billion debt [owed by Honeywell] is incorrect.” On Thursday, July 27, The Cable released its popular investigative series ‘Fact Check’, delving into the ongoing matter between one of Nigeria’s Banks and billionaire, Oba Otudeko’s companies.
Per the Fact Check, Barbican Capital Limited, an affiliate of Honeywell Group Limited (HGL), acquired 4.7 billion shares of FBN Holdings Plc (FBNH), the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria. According to a notice filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, Honeywell Group and its affiliates acquired an aggregate of 4,770,269,843 units of FBN Holdings’ shares. The shares represent over 13 percent of the stakes in FBN.
Chronicling the series of events that led to the case, the report stretched back over a decade ago in 2012, when three companies – Anchorage Leisures Limited, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and Siloam Global Services – borrowed from Oceanic Bank (later to be called Ecobank).
“However, on July 22, 2013, an agreement was reached that the companies would jointly pay the sum of N3.5 billion in full and final settlement of their indebtedness to Ecobank. The sum of N3.5 billion was paid and a letter written to the bank confirming the terms of the agreement. The bank was said to have responded the same day, confirming the payment,” the article reads.
The report retraces its steps to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Bankers’ Committee sub-committee on ethics and professionalism and the Federal High Court’s verdicts in favour of the Otudeko-run companies, as well as the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court’s judgements in favour of Ecobank.
In an interesting conclusion, the report finds that “there was no determination as to the amount outstanding, but the court dismissed Honeywell’s appeal and ordered that the sum of N3 million be paid to the bank. Although the Supreme Court determined that Otudeko’s companies owe Ecobank, it did not state any amount. Ecobank’s claim that the apex court ruled that there is a N13.5 billion debt is incorrect.”
On Tuesday, July 18, the Federal High Court ruled that Ecobank is to pay the sum of 72 billion in favour of Honeywell as damages for an illegal ex parte order.
