Court upholds appointment of receiver/manager in debt recovery suit against Stallion Group

The Federal High Court in Lagos has dominated in favour of United Bank for Africa (UBA) in a N156 billion debt recovery suit against Stallion Group and its subsidiaries and upheld the appointment of the receiver/manager, Romeo Ese, by the financial institution as legitimate.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Daniel Osiagor on Friday, the court docket granted all of the reliefs sought by the financial institution and affirmed its jurisdiction to listen to the case.

It additionally affirmed the precise of the receiver/manager to take possession of the mortgaged property, with the receiver/manager declared to be entitled to hunt protecting orders,

It additionally affirmed the precise of the receiver/manager to take possession of the mortgaged property, the enforceability of the mortgage safety and the legal responsibility of the guarantors.

The court docket additionally declared that the receiver/manager is entitled to hunt protecting orders and famous that the defendants didn’t dispute their indebtedness, though they challenged the quantity claimed.

According to the court docket, the reconciliation of accounts between the events didn’t negate the underlying indebtedness.

In his ruling, Justice Osiagor dismissed the objections raised by Barbedos Ventures Limited, the twelfth Defendant, holding that it failed to determine any proprietary rights over the mortgaged property.

On that rating, its consent was not required for the creation of the mortgage, and its objections had been declined.

The court docket forbade the defendants from diverting the receivables resulting from them from authorities companies, reinforcing the financial institution’s capacity to guard its recovery pursuits.

The ruling affirmed the legal responsibility of the guarantors, boosting the authorized place of UBA to hunt recovery of the excellent obligations.

The ruling is essential for implementing collectors’ rights in Nigeria, underscoring the validity of correctly constituted safety preparations and the authority of duly appointed receivers to implement collectors’ pursuits.

Background

According to UBA, the financial institution granted a number of credit score services to Stallion Nigeria Limited in 2014 on the settlement that the credit score services could possibly be utilised by different corporations inside the Stallion Group in accordance with the phrases of the provide letter.

The financial institution mentioned the defendants pledged belongings in Kano, Port Harcourt and Lagos as safety for the loans.

According to an affidavit deposed to by Anthony Chilaka, the group head, Recovery and Remedial Management Department of UBA, on 18 October 2023, Sunil Vaswani, the chairman of Stallion Group, made a private assure in respect of the services.

Stallion Motors was awarded a contract by the Federal Government in 2014 to produce 700 Ashok Leyland vans/Stallion troop carrying autos and 50 Falcon seater buses for use by the navy on the settlement that the receivables from the federal government can be paid into Stallion’s account with UBA, the financial institution claimed.

On delivering the autos, Stallion Motors allegedly requested the federal government to make the primary fee of $50 million into its Dubai account and acquired N8.2 billion into its offshore account as an alternative of the UBA account, opposite to the sooner understanding between the events.

READ ALSO: 2027: Spanish group, Fact Check Nigeria train journalists on indigenous-language reporting

UBA mentioned the defendants didn’t settle its money owed totalling N156 billion.

Acting on an order of the Federal High Court, Lagos, in November 2023, UBA took over Stallion Group’s belongings and people of its subsidiaries in Lagos, Kano, and Port Harcourt as half of the debt recovery push.

The belongings comprised mortgaged property often known as “all that piece or parcel of land together with any building thereon” at Plot 371, Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“Plot 353, Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Plot 370, Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, KM17, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Lagos State and No. 54, Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano State, Nigeria.”