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The senator representing Anambra Central in the National Assembly, Sen Victor Umeh has been ordered by a Federal High Court in Abuja to pay ₦135,722,303.40 along with accrued interest to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) over his unpaid bank loan.
Justice Inyang Ekwo issued the order in a judgment delivered yesterday in a suit filed by AMCON.
Justice Ekwo, who declared that Umeh was actually indebted to AMCON, issued an order directing the forfeiture of the senator’s 5,000,000 units of Skye Bank shares in the records of the Central Securities and Clearing System to AMCON.
The judge also awarded a cost of N2 million in favour of AMCON and against Umeh, who is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora.
Court documents filed by AMCON which were obtained by The Eastern Updates showed that Umeh got a loan of N23,250,000.00 from the now defunct Skye Bank in January 2008 “to enable him invest in and purchase shares of a financial institution in Nigeria”.
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The document added: “The tenor of the credit facility granted the defendant was specifically fixed for 356 days.
“The offer letter contained various other explicit terms and conditions which the defendant accepted by duly executing the memorandum of acceptance.
“The defendant utilised the funds granted to him as credit facility by the bank. However, at the expiration of the tenor of the facility, the defendant failed and neglected to liquidate the credit facility as per the contract.”
AMCON averred that it later acquired the unpaid debt when Skye Bank could not make Umeh to repay his loan.
The corporation explained that its suit was meant to recover the debt, which stood at N135,722,303.40k as at April 2011.
In his judgment, Justice Ekwo held that despite being served with court documents on the case, Umeh failed to file any response or make any effort to enter a defence.
