Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Algrains Foods Limited, Lagos, Anthony Obidulu has cried out to the Presidency, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to investigate the takeover and sales of his company’s assets by the receiver of two banks.
Obidulu said that manufacturing equipment and other properties worth N20 billion had been looted from his company after a court order.
The businessman said; ”We have had harrowing experience in recent times in the hands of two commercial banks which have chosen to cripple our company and render 300 direct employees and more than 2,800 persons in its distribution chain jobless at the pick of its production in 2014.
“The company has remained sealed by one of the banks since June 2017. The bank not only forged but concealed relevant documents about the banker/customer relationships with which it deceived the court into granting the order based on which they took over our company.
“Many industrialists over the years have lost not just their businesses, but also their lives, when banks took over their companies in questionable and controversial circumstances.
One may ask, how did our company get involved in this mess with the bank which led to a court case and the eventual takeover of the company by the bank? Our company is one of the beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s intervention loans tagged Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (SMECGS) in 2011.
“We got N100 million of the intervention fund through the bank because one of the conditions for getting the fund was that one must go through a commercial bank to access it. So we opened an account with the bank, from where the fund was accessed.
“But unfortunately, as the CEO what I thought would boost our business and increase the company’s economic base, turned out to be one of our worst economic decisions as a businessman.
“The N100 million was guaranteed by the Federal Government to the tune of 80% (Principal and interest) and tenure of 60 months with a 12-month moratorium. The final date of repayment ought to be November 2016 in respect of which the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a guarantee certificate of the bank dated March 15, 2012, containing the afore-mentioned terms which the bank concealed from the Federal High Court in securing the judgment they are peddling around.
“The action of the bank became a nightmare that has crippled our business since 2017 and continues. The bank cooked up some fictitious figures and alleged that we owed about N350 million.
“They went to court behind us, procured an order to take over the company and eventually sealed the company.
“As at the time they went to court, we had only touched the Federal Government’s money, not the bank’s money. The offer letter that has not been drawn down is what they relied on to convince the court that our company owed them.
“The judge did not look at the drawdown while looking at the offer letter, and he gave the judgment without telling them how much money they could recover from Algrain Foods Limited, thereby giving them an open ticket that led to the looting that took place in the factory as moveable assets worth over N20,000,000,000:00K (twenty billion naira) have been stolen from the factory with the aid of mobile policemen.
“They had no right in the first place to enforce the loan which was not even due for repayment as at the time they appointed the receiver/manager because it has a tenure of 60 months, with 24 months moratorium, the final payment was to be due in November 2016 (5th anniversary of the facility).
“The SMECGS guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria talk of eight years tenure; it was an intervention fund for small and medium enterprises engaged in the agriculture value chain.”
“We did not take any loan from the bank because there was no draw down on their own N205 million neither was any such money utilized by our company. If they claim otherwise, let the bank show any application to utilise this sum of money by Algrain Foods Limited.“
