He has been
having financial dealings with GTB,his lawyer says
The Chief
Executive of Innoson Technical Manufacturing Company, Enugu, Chief Innocent
Chukwuma was yesterday arrested by operatives of the Economic and
Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged undisclosed financial crime.
Chukwuma was
apprehended about 11:30a.m. at his Government Reserved Areas (GRA), Enugu
residence by armed police officers.
Being aware
of his impending arrest, several trucks belonging to his company had been used
to block the three entrances leading into his Savage Crescent residence GRA,
witness said. The development caused gridlock as road users meandered through
the adjourning streets.
Those who operated
businesses around the area could not access their offices. Few hours later,
armed EFCC officials stormed the area, and began to fire teargas.
The
situation caused passersby to scamper for safety. Confirming the incident,
EFCC’s Media Officer in Enugu, Mr. Chris Oluka, said he did not know why the
auto manufacturer was arrested.
The
protesting workers
“They
brought him to our office and have taken him to Lagos. Nobody has told us why
he was picked but I believe it will be made known in due time,” he said.
As at the
time of filing the report, attempts were still being made to free the blocked
entrances to ease movement of people, vehicles among others.
Meanwhile,
Chukwuma’s lawyer, Mc Carthy, said his principal has been having problems with
GTB, which has resulted into debiting his account to millions of naira in
excess charges.
He said:
“Innoson commenced a law suit against GTB and got judgement of N4.7bn at
Federal High Court Awka in 2013.
GTB appealed
against the judgement on December 9, 2014, but the court ordered it to pay the
money into an interest-yielding account of the Deputy Registrar, Court of
Appeal, Enugu. The money has amounted to N5.9bn. GTB appealed to the Supreme
Court, but Innoson again got a judgement against customs at Ibadan on December
2010 amounting to N2.4bn. In 2011 Innoson traced the Customs money in GTB and
got order absolute from which the court ordered it to pay. It appealed the
judgment again which was struck out .
The court
asked GTB to pay the judgement fee of N2.4bn to Innoson. GTB also appealed the
judgment, citing that he got the judgment through fraud but the application was
dismissed this 2017. Innoson filed a case against GTB for N400bn for malicious
persecution and defamation.”
According to
Mc Carthy, GTB found out it is difficult for Innoson to forgo the judgement
sum, and later accused him of obtaining fake customs documents. The case is
still pending in court.
“Now GTB has
gone to EFCC on the same matter and today, the agency stormed his residence,
used tear gas on Innoson and his workers and till now, they are still being
kept and we are yet to hear from them,” said Mc Carthy.
A source
close to the bank told The Guardian he had no hand in whatever Innoson Company
was passing through, as the matter was already in court.
He, however,
disclosed that Mr. Chukwuma had refused to appear in court.
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