GTBank Pursues Legal Action Against 60 Banking Executives Over 17 Billion Debt
Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has initiated legal proceedings against 60 senior executives from 13 commercial banks in response to a N17 billion debt linked to the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP). The defendants, including chairpersons, chief executive officers, directors, and company secretaries, face contempt charges for allegedly disregarding a no-debit order on the accounts of Afex Commodity Exchange held with their banks.
The litigation underscores a significant financial dispute between GTBank and Afex Commodity Exchange, with the bank seeking to recover the substantial debt. The implicated banks are Access Bank, Citibank, Jaiz Bank, Union Bank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank, NDIC (acting as the liquidator for Heritage Bank), Polaris Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Taj Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Zenith Bank, along with their senior officials.
The legal action follows an order issued by Justice CJ Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos (suit no FHC/L/CS/911/2024). The order mandates the incarceration of the accused executives for failing to comply with a previous ruling dated May 27. This ruling required 20 banks to transfer funds credited to Afex’s account into an account with GTBank until the debt of N17.81 billion is settled, which includes N15.7 billion in unpaid loans and N2.04 billion for recovery costs and incidental expenses.
In addition to the financial transfer directive, the court authorized GTBank to seize and liquidate assets from AFEX, including 16 warehouses located in seven states, to recoup the loan extended under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ loan facility.
Earlier in the month, AFEX and some of its principal officers, including Ayodele Balogun, Jendayi Fraser, Justin Topilow, Mobolaji Adeoye, and Koonal Ghandi, were also served with contempt proceedings by the court. The case has been adjourned until next Thursday.
