BUSINESSMAN SUES ZENITH BANK FOR FRAUDULENT COLLUSION WITH CHINESE FRAUDSTERS TO STEAL OVER N177 MILLION

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Zenith Bank Plc

Emmanuel Thomas l Friday, August 18, 2018

IGBOSERE, Lagos, Nigeria – A businessman, Mr. Umegelo Emmanuel has filed a suit at a Lagos High Court in Igbosere, seeking to compel Zenith Bank Nigeria Plc to pay him the sum of N177, 500, 000 (One Hundred and Seventy Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira). Umegelo Emmanuel said in the suit that he lost the money due to Zenith Bank’s alleged negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and collusion with Chinese fraudsters.




But in a counter affidavit, the bank has requested the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that the defendant’s loss was as a result of his own negligence and not the bank.

In the suit marked LD/ADR/1632/2018, the claimant through his statement of claim dated 23rd February, 2018, stated that he entered an agreement with one Ms. Muna, a Chinese with Nigerian business interests to purchase goods from China.

According to the claimant, owing to his longstanding banking relationship with Zenith Bank, he rejected other Bank’s accounts provided by Ms. Muna for payment and insisted that she must present a bank account maintained in Zenith Bank, which resulted in Ms. Muna presenting the Zenith Bank Account No: 1005689704 with the Account Name: Xian Fang Li.

The claimant further maintained that he confirmed that the account existed before transferring the sum of N177, 500, 000 into it. But to his chargrin shortly after the money was paid into the account, Ms. Muna refused to deliver the goods and subsequently stopped picking his calls and blocked all his access to her contact.

The claimant said he had visited China twice in search of Ms. Muna and had even reported the matter to the Chinese Police and Chinese Embassy but all efforts to locate the said Ms. Muna has proved abortive

He noted that investigation conducted by the Police in Nigeria showed that the Account, Xiang Fang Li was fraudulently opened by Zenith Bank without regard to the usual Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure for opening account.

He tod the court that investigation by the police revealed that “the utility bills presented in opening the Xiang Fang Li account were fictitious, besides, the signature of one of the purported referees to the Xiang Fang Li account, Mr. Kazeem Lawal, was conclusively found to be forged by the account officer, Mr. Muyiwa Onigbelusi who opened the Xiang Fang Li account.

He averred that the defendant neither cross-checked nor verified the true identity of the account holder, the true identity of the referees supplied during the account opening as well as the validity of the account opening documents.

He further averred that “he was defrauded by virtue of the forgery, collusion and fraudulent practice of Zenith Bank Plc and their staff and consequently urged the court to grant him the following reliefs among others:

“A declaration that the defendant is negligent and reckless in her duties to the claimant and the public in general.

“An order mandating the defendant to refund the sum of N177,000,090 to the claimant being the sum lost by the claimant due to the negligence of the defendant.

“An order for the payment of the sum of N10, 000, 000 as general damages against the defendant for breach of contract.

“An order of interest at the rate of 15 percent before judgment and 21 percent post-judgment.”

But in its statement of defence, Zenith Bank absolved itself of blame. It said the claimant failed to contact the Bank for possible advice on the alleged business transaction he had with Ms. Muna before paying the sum of N177, 500,000.00 into the said account.

“The claimant failed to request a bank guarantee of the alleged sum from or requested that the defendant issued a confirmation or a letter of comfort before dealing with both Ms Muna and Xian Fang Li”, adding that the bank indeed cross-checked and also verified the true identity of the account holder and that the customer supplied his International Passport and other sundry documents before the account was opened.

“ The defendant cross~checked, verified and established the ‘identity of the referees supplied by the customer during the account opening” procedure.

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