A businessman, Chief Linus Ukachukwu, has accused EcoBank PLC of forging documents to open an account for his company, Lingo Nigeria Limited, without his consent, allegedly for diversion of dividends from N50 million worth shares he bought from Diamond Bank PLC in 2004.
Ukachukwu, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lingo
Nigeria Limited made the disclosure to journalists, in Abuja on Friday.
He that a case has been instituted at the Lagos High Court against EcoBank for the alleged diversion of dividends anchored on N1 billion claims as damages.
Speaking with journalists, the business man said that the account opened in the name of his company was used to draw dividends for N50 million worth of shares he bought from Diamond Bank in 2004.
He said: “We bought N50 million shares from Diamond Bank in 2004 and since then we had not collected any dividends. Last year, we went for the dividends, only to discover that the dividends were being collected by EcoBank.
“Upon further enquiry, we discovered that the payments had not been made into our accounts: we approached the Bank for the payment but they were dribbling us.
“Finally we went to court to challenge the matter, during the process, the Bank came with documents in their defense. Unfortunately for the bank, all the documents they presented were forged and cloned. Presently we have reported them to the EFCC and to the police for forgery.
“The dividends we are expecting is above what we invested, about N120 million. We want Eco Bank to pay us those dividends and pay N1 billion damages for forging our documents.”
The petition, solicitors to the aggrieved shareholder submitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Police dated December 7, 2018, indicated that some of the documents to have been forged include: Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum and Articles of Association, the CEO Linus Ukachukwu’s International Passport and signature, as well as Drivers’ License of the Director of the company.
Ukachukwu in the petition also alleged that the bank also had in its possession a forged BVN verification page of the CEO, alleging that all the forged documents differed from the original.The petitioner prayed the Police and the EFCC that: “In the light of the foregoing, it becomes expedient to write requesting you, sir, to thoroughly investigate a case of conspiracy, forgery, financial crime, criminal misappropriation and fraud against the management of EcoBank Plc.”Efforts […]
