Honeywell Group has said there is no judgment against it and three other companies alleged by Ecobank to have been ordered to pay some outstanding debts by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The group said this recently in a statement that no judgment of monetary award has been delivered, making the four companies liable to Ecobank.
Ecobank, through its solicitors Kunle Ogunba & Associates, had on Friday, July 7, 2023, claimed the four entities owe the bank the sum of N13.5 billion as of January 31, 2023.
It stated this in a letter to the CEO of First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Holdings, asking the financial services group not to approve the 4.8 billion shares recently acquired by Barbican Capital, an affiliate of Honeywell Group until the debt is cleared.
Otudeko, a former chair of FBN Holdings, was ousted by the Central Bank of Nigeria in April 2021 for anti-corporate governance practices.
The other three companies mentioned are Anchorage Leisures Limited, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, and Siloam Global Services Limited, a company dominantly owned by the Otudeko family and which holds a 75 percent stake in Honeywell Flour.
“We find it surprising that a professional organization would be writing to a company in which we have invested in with spurious allegations without copying us in said letter.
“Neither Oba Otudeko nor Honeywell Group Limited were parties to the suit covered by the Supreme Court judgement. There is no judgment against either of them,” Honeywell Group said.
The Group went further to say it would not comment on matters which are subject to pending litigation.
Honeywell Group and Otudeko, through their solicitor, Wole Olanipekun, on Monday, July 12, 2023, urged FBN Holdings to disregard all the requests made by Ecobank in its earlier letter.
It insisted the sum of N13.5 billion is not contained in the Supreme Court decision or any extant court decision in Nigeria.
“For his conduct whilst prosecuting the case, Mr Kunle Ogunba, Ecobank’s Counsel was sanctioned for grievous professional misconduct, leading to him losing his privileged status of Senior Advocate of Nigeria,” Honeywell Group said.
FBN Holdings had on Saturday, July 8, 2023, formally notified the Nigerian Exchange of the purchase of 4.8 billion shares by Barbican Capital translating to a 13.3 percent holding in the company.
