February 06, (THEWILL) – A lawsuit filed against late billionaire, Chief Sonny Odogwu’s family and others over an Ikoyi property has suffered a setback as Siete Trading Limited, the first plaintiff in the suit alongside Access Bank as the 2nd plaintiff, has in a bizarre twist, withdrawn from the suit.
Siete Trading Company had sought to take over the property in contention, Le Meridien Grand Towers Hotel known as Luxury Collection Hotels and Apartments located in Ikoyi, Lagos but with their withdrawing from the suit, one wonders what would become of the suit filed by it and Access Bank seeking the retrieval of their money or the prized property as its equivalent.
The late billionaire and his two companies, SIO Properties Limited and Robert Dyson and Diket Limited, had engaged Access bank through its subsidiary, Diamond Capital Ltd, as lead arranger for the syndication of finance for the project. But the late business mogul and his two companies allegedly failed and refused to pay the judgment sum of N26, 229, 943, 035.22 billion despite several reconciliatory meetings held by all parties involved, including reducing the debt to N12 billion.
Access Bank and Siete Trading were then forced to take the late Odogwu and his two companies to court and in November 2015, the Federal High Court found the late Chief and his companies guilty of a breach of bank-customer Relationship and therefore ordered the sale of the property used as collateral for the loan.
Although the sum of N26,229,943,035.22 was used in financing the Le Meridien, however, taking into consideration the 20 per cent interest on the facility since the judgement was passed, the total debt skyrocketed to over N50 billion.
The Odogwu family however denied that they owed Access Bank any money, insisting that they had fully satisfied their financial responsibility in the matter. They stated that this was accomplished through a debt-for-asset swap in full and final settlement of the dispute and debt. In a motion on notice filed on December 31, 2021, Odogwu family urged the court to dismiss or in the alternative strike out the suit filed by Access Bank Plc and Siete Trading Limited. The notice of preliminary objection was brought on the grounds that the suit constitutes an abuse of court process, that the plaintiffs lack the locus standi to institute the instant suit as well as that the action as presently constituted did not disclose any reasonable cause of action against the defendants. But in a motion of notice filed by its counsel in January 2022 at Federal High Court, Lagos, Siete Trading Limited, the 2nd plaintiff in the suit, sought to withdraw from the suit. In the notice for withdrawal brought pursuant to order 50, Rule 2 of Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court, the firm stated that it has withdrawn from all its claims as it relates to the originating summons of December 20, 2021 against the defendants in the suit.
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