The management of Innoson Nigeria Limited has insisted that the court judgement it obtained to enforce its garnishee order would be executed on Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and not the Nigerian Customs Service as claimed by the bank recently.
The Head of Corporate Communications of Innoson Group, Cornel Osigwe on Sunday evening rubbished the recent claim by GTB that “the judgment allegedly in issue is in respect of Garnishee Proceedings against the account of the Nigerian Customs Service Board domiciled with the Bank and not against the Bank as an entity”.
In his statement, Osigwe said the Garnishee order absolute issued by the Federal High Court Ibadan in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/603/2006 had ordered GTB to pay Innoson Nigeria Ltd the judgment sum of N2.4 Billion with a 22% interest, per annum, on the judgment sum until the final liquidation of the judgment.
He noted that the bank had appealed the Federal High Court’s decision up to the Supreme Court but lost, adding that with the Supreme Court’s decision, it is vividly clear that the case was between GTB and Innoson Nigeria Ltd and no other person.
The statement reads in part: ‘In a garnishee proceeding, once an order of garnishee nisi is made, the garnishee is required by law to set the amount involved aside and will not allow the judgment debtor to withdraw from it; and if the order is made absolute, the garnishee pays the money to the judgment creditor and incurs no liability for doing that but if the order is not made absolute the garnishee returns the money to the judgment debtor.
‘In this case, the order was made absolute since 29th July 2011 and GTB held unto the money from that time and is using for its business. It follows that by the time the order was made absolute it was no more the judgment debtor’s money but rather that of Innoson Nigeria Ltd who is the judgment creditor; if a garnishee refuses to comply with the order, then, it becomes a judgment debtor, as GTB has become in the present case, against whom execution of the order will issue. Therefore, there is no merit or force in the GTB’s press statement.
‘Furthermore and interestingly, the Garnishee order absolute was against GTB and no one else; and it is only GTB and no one else that will comply with the order; in the circumstance, the order will be executed against GTB and no one else. Please, be guided accordingly.’
In furtherance of the court judgement, the management of Innoson groups has moved to shut down some branches of the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc in some part of the country.
