Insolvency: Firm pleads Court, CBN to wind up Heritage Bank

A film based in Abuja, Geonel Integrated Services Limited has advised t) and a Federal High Court in Abuja to revoke the operational license of Heritage Bank over an alleged state of financial insolvency, National Daily has gathered.

In a petition filed by the company against Heritage Bank at the Federal High Court Abuja, Geonel Integrated Services alleged that Heritage bank has been showing signs of distress and insolvency in recent times and may cause colossal economic damages to Nigerians unless it is wind up on court order.

The company alleged that it maintains four separate accounts with Nos. 1300083902, 6200100931, 6000105125 and 3200121515 as well as a fixed deposit account at the Abuja branch of the bank.

Petitioner owned by a foreign investor, Mr. Wolfgang Reinl, an Australian Security Experts claimed it has N1, 811,555,258 and another $85,859 in the accounts and that the huge sums have been trapped in the bank due to its inability to meet up with its expected obligations.

In the petition filed by Mr. Mazi Afam Osigwe, an Abuja based lawyer, the company alleged that it had made several applications through cheques to transact withdrawal business but that the bank had failed and neglected to honour the cheques.

Petitioner alleged that in January last year, a Judge of the court, Binta Murtala Nyako granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) an order to freeze the accounts for a period of six months to carry out some investigations.

It claimed that the order granted EFCC expired on July 24, 2016 and that the same Justice Binta Murtala Nyako confirmed expiration of the order in her ruling delivered on November 16, 2016.

As a result of the inability of the bank to honour its obligations, the petitioner claimed that it has been actively instigating the EFCC to secure a fresh order to stop it from accessing or operating the accounts so as to cover up its distressed status.

The petitioner pleaded several newspaper reports that the bank is financially distressed and the denial of its management to the contrary.

It however said that in spite of the public denial of the distress, the bank has been unable to honour several financial obligations to customers rushing to withdraw their money to escape unpleasant economic effects.

It therefore urged the court to declare the bank distressed, insolvent and to hold that the bank is indebted to it to the tune of N1.8b and another $85,859.

When contacted, Heritage Bank refused to make any comment on the petition, but insisted that the Bank remain strong and committed to its customers.