Ecobank cannot renege on agreement with Honeywell – Court
The Honeywell Group, Friday, emerged victorious in its protracted legal dispute against Ecobank with the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court, Lagos in which the court held that it (Honeywell’s) payment of N3.5 billion between 2013 and 2014 constitutes the full and final settlement of its indebtedness to Ecobank Nigeria Limited. According to the […]
The Honeywell Group, Friday, emerged victorious in its protracted legal dispute against Ecobank with the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court, Lagos in which the court held that it (Honeywell’s) payment of N3.5 billion between 2013 and 2014 constitutes the full and final settlement of its indebtedness to Ecobank Nigeria Limited.
According to the judgement delivered by Justice Olayinka Faji, a valid agreement was reached at various meetings between representatives of Honeywell and Ecobank on the 22nd of July, 2013 and in line with this agreement, Honeywell made payments to the bank in order to settle its indebtedness. However same could not be said of Ecobank which rather than keep to the terms of the agreement, sought to introduce new terms.
The court further held that all through the course of the instalmental payments being made by Honeywell, Ecobank did not at any time raise any objections to the payments. The amount now being claimed by the bank was not at any time mentioned in the meetings or series of correspondence with Honeywell, it said.
It will be recalled that Anchorage Leisures Ltd, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and Siloam Global Limited (all members of the Honeywell Group), in August 2015, instituted a suit before the Federal High Court, Lagos, seeking the determination of whether or not the companies are truly indebted to the bank following the payment of the sum of N3.5 billion as full and final settlement of their obligations to Ecobank, based on a mutual agreement between them.
The judgement of Justice Faji gives victory to Honeywell in the protracted legal tussle which commenced in 2015.