By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A company based in Lagos has been wound up by Justice Josephine Oyefeso of the Lagos State High Court Igbosere over the failure of its owner to pay the N30 million he obtained from a financial institution.
The ruling of the winding up of the organisation was given on Monday, September 28, 2020, with the owner sentenced to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine.
Business Post gathered that trouble started when one Mr Tunde Martins obtained a N30 million loan from the defunct Diamond Bank Plc.
According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which arraigned the convict in court after a complaint from the lender, Mr Martins used a forged Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to secure the credit facility.
It was stated that the convict, despite the criminal offence of forging on him, has refused to repay the loan he obtained from the bank.
He was said to have been dragged before the court along with his company, Centre Global Limited, in 2018 on a three-count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, forgery and use of false documents, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution counsel, Mr Anita Imo, in the course of his trial, tendered several documents and exhibits and called five witnesses to prove the guilt of the convict.
On September 23, 2020, Justice Oyefeso found him guilty of the offence, but deferred ruling to Monday, September 28, 2020.
Delivering her judgment yesterday, Justice Oyefeso sentenced him to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine and also ordered that the company, Centre Global Limited, be wound up and all the money accrued from it be remitted to Diamond Bank Plc.
Recall that in March 2019, Diamond Bank merged with Access Bank Plc after months of negotiations between the two organisations on the need to became a single and strong entity.
Adedapo Adesanya