Mr Otedola triggers legal battle and police action after accusing Bank of unauthorised withdrawals of billions of naira from his company's account., the chair of FBN Holdings and majority owner of Geregu Power, and some of his companies are up in arms againstover a controversial debt involving his former company, Zenon Petroleum & Gas and some other firms in which he has interests.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the technical teams of Zenith Bank and Zenon Oil met on 20 May 2024 to resolve the logjam, but the meeting was inconclusive. Zenon claimed its letters of credit that deteriorated into the problematic loan acquired by AMCON were opened before the corporation bought the debt in December 2011. Zenon ceased to operate the account the moment the takeover happened.
But a top bank official had earlier told one of our reporters that since the matter is already in court and before the police, there was no need discussing it in the media. According to a company document obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Seaforce reviewed a bank statement of the company Zenith Bank shared with it and established that no facility existed.This March, Zenon, Seaforce, Luzon Oil & Gas, Garment Care Limited, and Mr Otedola obtained an injunction against Zenith Bank, Quantum Zenith Securities and Investment, Veritas Registrar, and Central Securities Clearing System.
The insider said the amount was debited to Zenon's main account on 27 January 2011. He claimed Zenith Bank admitted to trading on the account and agreed to reverse the debit and pay the accumulated interest to date. PREMIUM TIMES has not been able to verify the claim independently.The police have stepped into the matter based on a petition by Mr Otedola and his companies.