Given that the court has mandated the bank’s immediate closure, Akinola George-Taylor’s Heritage Bank’s problems are just getting worse.
Under the new direction of George Taylor, Heritage Bank, which seems to have had better times in its banking activities, has continued to struggle to survive.
The court order issued by Honourable Justice (Dr.) I.J. Essien directed the Inspector General of Police Olukayode Egbetokun to provide police security for the Court’s Sheriffs as they carried out the Court’s order to shut down operations of Heritage Bank with immediate effect, which changed the course of the customers’ growing concerns.
This comes after Shehu Mudi’s lawsuit, with case number MCN/MKD/07m/202, won a garnishee order against Heritage Bank.
The garnishee order directs the immediate closure of Heritage Bank Limited after it failed to pay Shehu Mudi and 656 other businesses an amount surpassing N710 million, according to the National Industrial Court located in Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State.
The Court upheld its position that the bank’s branches must be closed until it completely complies with the instructions stated in the garnishee order.
This occurs at a time when bank customers’ worries about the institution’s flawed operations and inability to obtain monies for counter withdrawals at various branches are at an all-time high.
Justice Essien stressed that the garnishee entity (Heritage Bank) had turned into a barrier to the administration of justice, according to a story by The SUN.
The court made an Order Absolute in Exhibit A, which required the Garnishee to remit the judgment amount requested by this application within a period of three days, the judge recalled while reviewing the materials and arguments.
Exhibit D, which is part of the Court of Appeal’s decision and identified as Appeal Number CA(MK/26/2022), he claimed, further validates this particular direction.
He continued by saying that the Garnishee was expressly ordered by this judgment to pay the judgment debt within three days.
Unfortunately, despite several directions from both this Court and the Court of Appeal, Garnishee has persisted in flagrantly disobeying the instructions provided in this Court’s Order.
The judge ruled:
Further to this, despite the Garnishee’s undertaking to pay the Judgement sum to anywhere located in Nigeria until the Garnishee (Heritage Bank PLC), comply with the Order of the Court of Appeal directing it to pay to the judgment creditor the sum of N710,969,140.19 which is made up of the judgment sum and interest accrued from 14/12/2021 to December 2022 which sum has been set aside by the garnishee and party represented by the bond entered into at the Court of Appeal by the garnishee.
Heritage Bank continues to wallow in murky waters under the watch of its embattled Chief Executive, Akinola George Taylor who was recently entangled in an alleged messy boardroom crisis that saw the sacking of staff who are perceived as loyalists of his predecessor, Ifie Sekibo.
Although the bank recently issued a statement assuaging the fears of its irate customers, data examined by Platinum Times Nigeria shows otherwise.