Sterling Bank sues clergyman over N11. 7m unpaid loan

STERLING Bank Plc. has sued Calabar-based clegyman, Bishop Josef Bassey (first defendant) and three others for defaulting in the payment of a loan facility obtained from the bank.
  Others listed in the suit include: Mrs. Grace Joseph Bassey, Pastor Edet Edet Etim as well as Excellers Group Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited as second, third and fourth defendants.
  In a suit filed at the High Court Holden in Calabar on December 18, 2013, with suit no: HC/1154/2013, the plaintiff stated that the first defendant sometime in March 2008 used the fourth defendant (Excellers Group) to apply for loan facility from Equatorial Trust Bank Plc now Sterling Bank Plc and he did so in his capacity as Chairman of the fourth defendant.
  The claimant averred that “a loan of N9 million was granted to the fourth defendant while  first and third defendants, Pastor Edet Etim were guarantors for the loan”
   In a Writ of Summons endorsed by the claimant’s solicitor, Mr. Onyebuchi Nzewi of E. Nelson-Iyoho Associates, the claimant claimed the following from the defendants; “10 per cent interest on the judgment sum until same is liquidated.
  “A declaration that the claimant is entitled to recover the outstanding loan facility of N11, 77,756.12 made of principal sum and interest granted to the 4th defendant upon the application of the 1st defendant”.
“An order lifting the veil of incorporation of the 4th defendant under these circumstances of fraudulent dealings to make her promoters and officers equally liable to pay Claimant’s loan facility”.
  The claimant is also seeking “an order that the defendants pay the said N11, 771,756.12 loan as outstanding debt to the claimant”.
  However, when the matter came up recently, the claimant sought for a transfer of the case from High Court No. 2 Calabar presided over by Justice Michael Edem to any other Court for trail.
  The claimant, which based its request for a transfer of the case to another court of competent jurisdiction, said the action was intended to ensure fair-hearing in the case.
  A statement obtained from the Claimant’s solicitor with a transfer of suit No: HC/454/14, read: “Sterling Bank has applied for transfer of their loan recovery suit against one Bishop Josef Bassey, and others from High Court No.2 Calabar presided over by Justice Michael Edem to any other Court for trial”.   
  According to an application to the Chief Judge of Cross River, Justice Okoi Itam, dated November 4, 2014, “the bank cites grounds of bias, fairness, high handedness and insistence on hearing the loan recovery case in secret chambers of the judge contrary to the contention of the bank”.
  Meanwhile, the first defendant, Bishop Josef Bassey, who is the Presiding Pastor of God’s Heritage Church, has denied some of the allegations levelled against him, noting that the onus lied on the claimant to properly identify him and proof his culpability”.
  In a defense statement signed by his counsel, Rekana Owan of  LexFori Partners, he said Paragraph 3, which states that “First defendants is the one also referred to as Bishop Joseph Bassey or Dr. Josef Praise Bassey” is denied. The first defendant is only known as Josef Praise Bassey, sometimes with or without the titles Bishop or Dr”.
  “The first defendant does not spell his name as Joseph and is thus not the same person as Joseph Bassey. The claimant is put to the strictest proof of the averments contained therein”, it added.
  On its part, Exceller Group in a letter signed by Josef Bassey and dated March 26, 2008, said, “we request for a facility of N10 million only for use as a turnaround capital for use by our society. The said facility would be used for disbursement to our members in their various businesses”
   But the first defendant further denied ever using the “4fourth defendant to apply for any loan facility from Equatorial Trust Bank or any other bank however called. Rather, the fourth defendant was given the loan in its own right as a legal entity after satisfying the rigorous loan conditions of the bank”.
  He further averred that, “while he was a member of the cooperative society, he served in various capacities as chairman and treasurer among others,” but admitted only to the extent “that the loan was granted to the fourth defendant. The first defendant did not guarantee the loan”.
  He said the loan was “secured by a collateral in the form of landed property of which the original title document were given to the bank, which as the last time the first defendant was aware, are still in the possession of the claimant”
  The suit for the transfer of the matter was adjourned to November 17, 2014 for ruling.