Slok asks court to set aside judgement ordering its wind-up

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has been asked to set aside the judgement ordering the winding up of Slok Nigeria Limited and its assets forfeited to the Federal Government.

Justice Mohammed Idris of a Federal High Court had in a judgment in the suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007 (FRN v. Orji Kalu) ordered Slok to wind up and forfeit its assets to the Federal Government.

Dissatisfied with the judgement, the firm and two others filed a notice of appeal pursuant to Order 7 rule 2 seeking the appellate court order to set aside the decision of the trial court and to acquit them.

In its 30-ground notice of appeal, the appellant challenged the decision of the lower court, noting that the trial judge erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice in arriving at his conclusion.

The appellant through its counsel contended that the judgement of the trial court finding the appellant guilty on counts 12 to 39 of the charge and ordering its winding up was unreasonable, unwarranted and could not be supported, having regard to the evidence presented before the court.

The appellant contended that the trial judge erred in law when he assumed jurisdiction to entertain the charge No. FHC/ABJ/CR/56/2007 as a high court judge after his elevation and swearing-in as a Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA) and this occasioned a gross miscarriage of justice.

It also stated that there was no evidence before the court to show that the bank paid any money from the account of Government House, Umuahia, into the appellant’s account.

Slok posited that PW19, on May 11, 2018, specifically stated under cross-examination that the staff of Inland Bank did not lodge any money into its account.

The appellant further contended that its statement of account did not show that any fund from the Government House Umuahia was paid into its account, hence the trial judge erred in law when he held: “In this case, the prosecution has tendered the statement of account which shows that money was lodged into the third defendant’s account by Inland Bank. Besides, the question the third defendant and the first defendant should be answering is not about the slips that show lodgement, but the source of the money that Inland Bank was paying into its account.”

However, the appellant denied collaborating to conceal the genuine origin of the N200 million said to have been illegally withdrawn from the account of the Government House Umuahia with UBA Plc.