Ecobank Nigeria Plc, has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, for an interpretation of the Bank Guarantee it issued and the judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Ecobank is contending that the Guarantee it issued was for the release of the Vessel MT “Ocean Success” rather than what the defendant claims.
Recall that a shipping company, OAN Overseas Agency Nigeria Limited, OAN, had asked the bank to comply with a Supreme Court judgment by paying it the sum of $4,581,774.86.
It followed a suit by OAN at the Federal High Court in 2006.
Meanwhile, OAN in its defence to the suit, stated that the action of Ecobank was an abuse of court process and that the bank guarantee issued by Ecobank does not require any interpretation given the clear and unequivocal wording of the bank guarantee.
OAN stated in its defence that it was obvious from the bank guarantee and as it is customary in admiralty practice that the guarantee was issued to secure the claims of OAN and not issued on behalf of the vessel that was not in any way connected with Ecobank.
OAN is further contending that Bronwen Energy Trading being the party that applied for and paid the requisite consideration for the issuance of the bank guarantee and also the party on behalf of which the bank guarantee was issued by Ecobank to cover its liability or indebtedness to OAN after all appeals up to the Supreme Court, Ecobank has no choice than to honour the bank guarantee it issued in favour of OAN.
The suit, numbered FHC/L/CS/787/2022, before Justice Yellin Bogoro, came up on July 20, 2022 and has been further adjourned till October 4, 2022, to enable parties sort out the issue of service of process on the second defendant.
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