NIB to reverse GHS90m judgment in court

Management of the NIB bank have assured its shareholders that it is confident of reversing a court ruling that resulted in a judgment against the bank to pay  Dominion Corporate Trustee Limited 60 million dollars, now 90 million dollars due to interest.

In 2010, the bank was sued by a foreign entity, Standard Bank Offshore Trust Company Limited, which was later substituted by Dominion Corporate Trustees Limited.

The case was heard and judgment delivered in February 2014 in favor of the plaintiffs for 60 millon dollars with interest at 11 percent per annum from January to the final date of payment.

According to NIB, the debt arose from a fraudulent promissory note transaction carried out in 2007 with the connivance of the then Managing Director of the Bank.

It further stated that the transaction did not reflect in any of the books of the bank and was done on the blind side of the board of directors.

Speaking at the bank's Annual General Meeting in Accra, the Board Chairman, Togbe Afede XIV told shareholders that the bank has gathered new evidence and is hopeful of winning the case.

“Only recently we had more thorough investigation done for the bank to prepare the bank for a retrial of the case. Because we have a lot of reason to believe that the bank's case is good, and of course we've been in constant dialogue with Bank of Ghana,” he said.

He stated that the legal team of the bank has perused the judgment since it was delivered and will not relent on getting a retrial.

“In the Dominion Trust issue that was very much emphasized last year and also referred to in the Auditor's Report, we have been very steadfast in determining the interest of this bank. We have had judgment against us but then, a lot of evidence became available that were not admissible at the court before those judgments were passed,” he said.

Expressing optimism, Togbe Afede maintained that the new evidence gathered by the legal team of the bank will change the judgment in favor of the bank.

According to him, the evidence has encouraged management and the board to kick against any move to go for settlement.

“We have done whatever it takes to position ourselves to defend the bank in these matters instead of sitting down to negotiated and accept a liability that we don't deserve,” he stressed.

NIB performance in 2015
Meanwhile the bank in its 2015 performance posted a net profit after tax of 120.11million cedis, representing 51.27 percent   and paid a dividend of 0.06 pesewas per share.

It also saw 14.45 percent increase in total asset to 2,654 million cedis and recorded customer deposit increase of 1,781 million cedis representing 32.6 percent.

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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana