Former Group Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola, has been ordered by a court in the Cayman Islands to pay the sums of 1.8 million pounds sterling and N238.4bn to Access Bank Plc following a suit filed against him for the recovery of funds allegedly misappropriated from the bank he then headed.
Intercontinental Bank Plc, which was acquired by Access Bank, had filed the suit before a London High Court, demanding the recovery of the bank’s funds which was fraudulently converted and misappropriated. In July 2012, it obtained judgment for the sum of N164bn.
In the course of the trial, some of the funds were traced to the purchase of property in London by Akingbola. This led the court to order that the property be sold.
In deference to the court orders, the property known as Flats 17, 18, 19 and 20 Embassy Court London, NW 8, were sold by Access Bank Plc which led to the recovery of 11 million pounds sterling so far.
Not yet done, the bank upon its discovery that Akingbola has some assets hidden under a Trust in Cayman Island (specifically property known as 2 Cambridge Court), proceeded to file an application to the Grant Court of the Cayman Islands to convert the London judgment to a Cayman Island judgment.
The defendant failed to defend the application, causing Justice Andrew Jones QC of the Grand Court of the Cayman Island to grant a default judgment in the sum of N238,471,484,162 and £1,800,000 in favour of the bank with interest at 2 5/8 per cent per annum on the 12th September 2014, to begin reading from April 2014 until payment is made.
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