ALLEGED FORGERY: COURT ADJOURNS SUIT AGAINST GTB FOR ADOPTION OF FINAL WRITTEN ADDRESSES
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In order to allow for the adoption of final written addresses, a Lagos High Court in Yaba postponed the forgery lawsuit brought against Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) until May 28.
The defence concluded its argument, and Judge Ezekiel Ashade postponed the hearing to May 28.
GTB and others were sued by Alhaji Si-Nuraini Abiola, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of RCN Network Ltd., for allegedly forging Tripartite Legal Mortgages (TLM).
In the lawsuit, Mr. Abiola is the second claimant, although his business is the first.
The Registrar of Titles, Lagos State Land Bureau, Seinde Fadeni, GMT Energy Resources Ltd., Attorney General of Lagos State, and Sanctum Hospitalities Ltd. were among the other respondents in the lawsuit with the filing number LD/6148LMW/18.
The petitioner, Abiola, together with his company, had made false and baseless claims that the bank had falsely reported a default indebtedness status in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Debtor’s Registration Portal, claiming that N257 million had been debited from RCN’s account.
The petitioner claimed that the bank falsified the TLM by exchanging the duly executed and signed TLM for his Banana Island property for the unsigned TLM he had created for the Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Ikoyi property.
Additionally, according to the letter footer, he claimed that the bank had altered the title records for the Banana Island property from a 12-page document to a nine-page one.
“It was registered under the Federal Government of Nigeria by altering the attestation page through whiting-out segments on the said page and then manually inserting altercations therein with a typewriter,” the petitioner submitted.
On Thursday, the first defence witness, Mr. Nicolas Igwebuike, the GTB legal officer, proceeded to be cross-examined by Dr. Charles Adeogun-Phillips, the claimant’s attorney.
Igwebuike verified to the court that the first claimant (RCN Network) was not listed as a mortgagor on the cover pages of Exhibits C6 and D16.
The witness said that there appeared to be a party switch when the claimant’s attorney questioned whether what was on the permission page was an error.
The witness was then questioned by Adeogun-Phillips on whether there was confirmation that Abiola, the second claimant, sent the TLM tripartite mortgage to the Lagos State Government for processing rather than GTB.
The witness attested that, although he did not notice it on Exhibit C12, there was an acknowledgement on Exhibit D16.
The witness was also shown a letter by the attorney directed to ACP OhIkeie Idris and sent to the commissioner of police of the Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi.
However, Mr. Noris Quakers, SAN, the bank’s attorney, protested, stating that the witness could not be questioned about documents he had not submitted as evidence.
Then, Adeogun-Phillips dropped the question, claiming that the purpose of the query was to provide Idris with a four-page affidavit of non-service of subpoena.
Quakers objected to the affidavits being put into evidence, but the judge allowed them.
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