FINANCE

TAJ Bank Engages EFCC In Legal Battle Over N1.2billion Forfeited Property

<h4>TAJ Bank engages EFCC<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>reports that non-interest yielding banking services provider&comma; TAJBank Limited&comma; has filed an application before a federal high court in Lagos to set aside the final Forfeiture order made relating to a multi-billion Naira property known as Apartment No&period; 1103&comma; Belmonte&comma; located at number 40 Bourdillon Road&comma; Ikoyi Lagos&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Justice Tijjani Ringim had on November 29&comma; 2023 ordered a final forfeiture of the property to the Federal government following the request of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission &lpar;EFCC&rpar; in a suit number<br &sol;>&NewLine;FHC&sol;CS&sol;1818&sol;2023&comma;filed before the court&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;TAJBank in a Motion on Notice filed by its lawyer&comma; Anthony Ibekwe is praying the court to restrain the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission &lpar;EFCC&rpar; from interfering with the property&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bank is also asking for &&num;8220&semi;a consequential order directing the Anti graft Agency to remove forthwith&comma; the notice of the Final Forfeiture Order handed down by the Court on November 29&comma; 2023&comma; from the front door of Apartment No&period; 1103&comma; Belmonte&comma; No&period; 40 Bourdillon Road&comma; Ikoyi&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;A<em><strong> consequential order restraining the &lpar;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;EFCC”&rpar; from interfering &lpar;or otherwise dealing&rpar; with the property known as Apartment No&period; 1103&comma; Belmonte&comma; No&period; 40 Bourdillon Road&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a 25-paragraph affidavit deposed to by a legal officer of TAJBank limited&comma;Akeem Abubakar&comma;he stated that sometime in June 2023&comma; the bank decided to buy a property to aid its business operations in Lagos&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Consequently the bank&comma; after several inquiries and searches&comma; identified a property in Ikoyi&comma; known as&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Apartment No&comma; 2203&comma; Belmonte&comma; No&comma; 40 Bourdillon Road&comma; lkoyl&comma; Lagos&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To determine the actual market value of the property and as part of its due diligence protocols&comma; the bank engaged the services of Messrs&period; Osas &amp&semi; Oseji &lpar;Estate Surveyors and Valuers&rpar; to undertake a valuation of the Property&comma; that bank also conducted due diligence searches at the Lagos State Land Registry to determine whether there are any encumbrances on the Property&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following the outcome of its due diligence inquiries&comma; the bank commenced discussions with representatives of the entity &lpar;i&period;e&period; Blessed Rageous Integrated Services Limited&rpar; with proprietary interest in the Property&comma; apartment 1103 Belmonte located at No&period; 40 Bourdillon Road&comma; Ikoyi Lagos&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bank purchased the property for the sum of N1&comma;271&comma;600&comma;000&period;00 &lpar;One Billion&comma; Two Hundred and Seventy-One Million&comma; Six Hundred Thousand Naira&rpar; then executed a contract of sale with the said Blessed Rageous Integrated Services Limited&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following the conclusion of the sale transaction&comma; the bank took possession of the Property with a view of furnishing same for its use&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However on or about March 25&comma; 2024&comma; a letter was delivered to the Property by pasting it on the front door thereof&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To the Applicant&&num;8217&semi;s utter shock and disbelief&comma; the letter suggested that the Property is the subject of a Final Forfeiture Order&comma; handed down by the Court on November 29&comma; 2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He added that upon a close scrutiny of the enrolled copy of the Final Forfeiture Order of the court&comma; the bank discovered that the Order refers to 1 Unit of 4 Bedroom Luxury Apartment lying and situate at Belmonte Bourdilon Road lkoyi Lagos&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He stated that in order to unravel the circumstances behind the issuance of the Final Forfeiture Order&comma; the Applicant engaged Messrs&period; Opal Law Office&comma; a law firm to conduct 3 search on the case file for the matter&comma; at the Federal High Court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Abubakar stated that unless the EFCC is restrained&comma; the bank&&num;8217&semi;s right to deal with the Property having invested heavily on the said property in manner that it deems fit would be unduly fettered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The presiding Judge&comma;Justice Kehinde Ogundare has fixed June 3&comma; 2024 for hearing of the application<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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