Revealed! True Story Of Loan Agreement, N559m Excess Charges Between GTBank & Innoson

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

The ongoing war of wits between auto mogul, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman, Innoson Motors and one of Nigeria’s leading banks, GTBank Plc is becoming interesting as new facts are gradually surfacing.

An investigation into the claim by Chukwuma, popularly known by his business name, Innoson, that the sum of N559,374,072.09 was illegally deducted from his account by GTBank, appears flaw as documents emerging from the court and law enforcement agents is proving otherwise.

Innoson had claimed that the bank withdrew the said sum claiming it to be excess charges. It was on the basis of this claim that Innoson acquired a judgment to the tune of N4.7 billion from the Federal High Court, Awka, Anambra State.

Sources told this medium that at a first glance, it could be assumed that the bank had debited funds from Innoson’s account but to the contrary, the controversial N559million represent the interest portion of the N2.4 billion loan he took from the Bank.

The source explained further:

The History of the N559 Million Excessive Charge Claim by Innoson

“In December 31, 2011, Innoson’s account with the bank was in debit of N1,654,481,895.04 (one billion, six hundred and fifty-four million, four hundred and eighty-one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-five Naira, four Kobo only). This means that rather than having money in his account, Innoson was owing the bank this amount as debt for loan which he had collected. However, the EFCC tried to broker a settlement between the Innoson and GTB, which would involve the settlement of Innoson’s indebtedness to the Bank, in view of the fact that Innoson had fraudulently acquired Imported Goods bought solely in the bank’s name.

“During the criminal investigation, EFCC got an independent party to reconcile the accounts of Innoson with the Bank. Upon conclusion of the reconciliation, the independent third party’s view was that the indebtedness of Innoson was N1.09billion and that the sum of N559million was default interest accrued on the loan. However, in the spirit of resolving the issues amicably, the Bank agreed to forgive Innoson of the default accrued interest, so long as Innoson paid, within 30 days the sum of N1,095,107,822.95 as full and final payment of his indebtedness to the Bank. Innoson agreed and requested for a letter to that effect. Here is the letter GTB sent to Mr. Innocent Chukwuma, owner of Innoson, in September 2012:

“Dear Sir,

INDEBTEDNESS OF INNOSON NIGERIA LIMITED

We refer to the indebtedness of Innoson Nigeria Limited (“the Customer”) to Guaranty Trust Bank plc (“the Bank”), secured by your Personal Guarantee which by our records was N1,654,481,895.04 (one billion, six hundred and fifty-four million, four hundred and eighty-one thousand, eight hundred and ninety-five Naira, four Kobo only) as at December 31, 2011. In addition, we refer to the reconciliation that has been conducted between representatives of the Customer and the Bank, further to which the sum of N1,095,107,822.95 (one billion, ninety-five million, one hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-two Naira, ninety-five Kobo only) was agreed as the reconciled indebtedness of the Customer to the Bank, having deducted alleged excess charges.

“As you are aware, the above sum of N1,095,107,822.95 (one billion, ninety-five million, one hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-two Naira, ninety-five Kobo only) is the reconciled indebtedness of the Customer to the Bank as at December 31, 2011, and the Bank is entitled to charge interest in accordance with terms indicated in the underlying facility agreements from January 2012 to date.

“However, the Bank has decided, in the spirit of amicable resolution, to accept from the Customer, or from you in pursuance of your Personal Guarantee, the said sum of N1,095,107,822.95 (one billion, ninety-five million, one hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-two Naira, ninety-five Kobo only) in full and final payment of the Customer’s indebtedness to the Bank, provided that same shall be fully paid not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this letter.

“Please note that in the event of failure by the Customer and you, in pursuance of your Personal Guarantee, to fully pay as herein advised, the Bank will be constrained, to reverse the concession herein granted, and charge interest appropriately on the said conceded indebtedness of N1,095,107,822.95 (one billion, ninety-five million, one hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-two Naira, ninety-five Kobo only) from January 2012, until same is fully paid. The Bank shall thereafter be constrained to commence recovery steps against you as Guarantor, to ensure the recovery of the said indebtedness without further recourse to you”.

Meanwhile, the source also told our correspondent that there is a question on Innoson’s alleged N4.7 billion judgement he claimed to have gotten against GTBank.

The source claimed that there is no Court of Appeal verdict in favour of the businessman.

Narrating further on that, the source said based on the Bank’s said letter dated September 26, 2012, communicating the indebtedness of Innoson, the businessman and his company, Innoson applied to Court for judgement on admission, claiming that the Bank owed Innoson the sum of N559 million.

Innoson, it was alleged, failed to disclose that it had an indebtedness in excess of N1.6 billion to the Bank out of which the Bank had magnanimously indicated its willingness to grant a waiver of N559 million, subject to payment of the outstanding debt within 30 days from the date of the letter.

The High Court in Awka granted Innoson a judgement of N4.7 billion by calculating interest on the default charges and backdating it to 2003, many years before the loan was even granted to Innoson.

“No gainsaying, GTBank found this judgment puzzling and appealed at the Court of Appeal,” the source said

“The Appeal Court is yet to sit on this case. This fact is important, because it shows that contrary to widespread rumours, only the Court in Awka awarded Innoson the N4.7Billion. The Appeal Court is still yet to hear GTB’s appeal on this judgement. Innoson’s claim that the Court of Appeal upheld the judgement in the High Court in Akwa is false. The Court of Appeal has not heard the matter till date as it is still a pending matter before the Court.”

Our correspondent could not reach any of Innoson’s executives or PR aides to comment on this claims.