Court: Access Bank’s £654m London Judgment against Akingbola Not Enforceable in Nigeria

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday held that the judgment of a London court ordering the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Erastus Akingbola, to pay Access Bank £654 million (N212.2 billion) is not enforceable in Nigeria.

Justice Chukwujeku Aneke, who made the order, dismissed an application filed to that effect by Access Bank.

A Lagos High Court in Igbosere had also rejected a similar application filed by Access Bank. The order of the Lagos High Court had prompted Access Bank to approach the Federal High Court.

The High Court of Justice, Queens Bench in London, had on August 1, 2012, ordered Akingbola to pay Access Bank £654 million over some fraudulent transactions

when he was in charge of the defunct bank.

Access Bank acquired Intercontinental Bank on January 31, 2012.

In a bid to enforce the London court’s judgment in Nigeria, Access Bank had approached Justice A.A Oyebanji of the Lagos High Court with an ex parte application.

The bank, in the ex parte application, had sought to register the foreign judgment and the accompanying order of Justice Michael Burton, dated September 13, 2012.

Justice Oyebanji had acceded to the request of Access Bank by registering the London judgment and ordering Akingbola to pay the judgment sum.

But Akingbola, through his lawyer Wole Olanipekun (SAN), filed an application dated September 27, 2013, asking Justice Babajide Candide-Johnson of the Lagos High Court to quash the registration of the foreign judgment for lack of jurisdiction.

Justice Candide-Johnson had discharged the ex parte order made by Justice Oyebanji on the grounds that Access Bank’s move contravened the provisions of the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgment Act of 1958.

He also declared that the Lagos High Court lacked jurisdiction to register the judgment.

The judge held that the subject matter of the judgment, which was the alleged unlawful share purchase orchestrated by the bank and Akingbola’s breach of statutory duties as director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, were matters relating to the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), which the British judge admitted he relied totally on, but which only Nigerian courts and specifically the Federal High Courts could properly exercise jurisdiction.

Justice Candide-Johnson had further held that since Federal High Courts alone have exclusive jurisdiction on CAMA-related cases, his court could not have entertained the claims leading up to the judgment and consequently could not register same as that would make it a judgment of the court.

The judge, however, refused Akingbola’s prayer seeking to restrain Access Bank from enforcing the London judgment in any other court.

“Instead of granting such order, the proper order to make in this case is to strike out the entire suit and same is hereby struck out,” Candide-Johnson ruled.

Olanipekun had, while arguing the case on behalf of his client (Akingbola), stressed that the judgment creditor (Access Bank) failed to comply with conditions precedent before the registration could be completed.

He submitted that Section 251 of the constitution vests the jurisdiction on Federal High Court and not on state High Court.

Responding, counsel to Access Bank, Olaniwun Ajayi (SAN), in a counter-affidavit dated October 10, 2013, submitted that the proposition that only the Federal High Court had jurisdiction to register foreign judgments should be discountenanced.

He submitted that the state High Courts had unlimited power to look into the matter.

However, in a ruling monday, Justice Aneke also turned down the application and ruled that the judgment was not enforceable in Nigeria.

Thisday