Minister threatens BankPHB over N122.3m debt (The NATION)

Minister of Labour and Productivity Prince Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN) has protested to the Managing Director of Bank PHB over accumulated N122.3million non-performing loans credited to him by the bank.

Kayode, who denied owing the bank any amount, also threatened to sue for defamation of character.

In a letter, signed by his counsel, Mr. Tunji Salawu, the Minister gave the bank seven days to clear his name and pay N1billion compensation.

The letter said Kayode "is not indebted to Bank PHB, rather it is the bank that is actually indebted to our client to the tune of N15million in a fraudulent manner, the fact of which is presently a subject matter in a pending suit filed by our client at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja."

"The matter has been fixed for hearing on 2nd November, 2009 before Hon. Justice A. S. Umar," the lawyers said.

The Minister explained how the alleged indebtedness came about.

The letter says: "Sometime in January 2008, Bank PHB approached our client and offered to grant him a loan facility to buy the bank’s 5,000,000 units of shares. Our client was asked to make a deposit of N11million for the shares while the bank will provide the balance.

"Surprisingly, after Bank PHB received the deposit of N11million made by our client, it refused to buy or allot the agreed 5,000,000 shares to our client.

"For more than a year, our client requested for the certificate of shares purportedly bought for him by Bank PHB but the bank could not produce it.

"No word was heard from the bank either in respect of the loan transaction or the purchase of shares despite several personal and written demands made by our client.

"It was after our client had threatened to report the said transaction to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that the bank management became panicky and wanted to meet with our client to resolve the matter amicably.

"Our client briefed us sometime in February 2009 to recover the deposit made by him from the bank. Consequently, we wrote a letter dated 3rd March, 2009 on behalf of our client to the bank to demand for the refund of the sum of N11million being the deposit of our client as well as the statement of our client’s account.

"In the process, it was discovered that an additional N6.5million made by our client sometime in June 2008 to his account was fraudulently converted to an interest paid in respect of a loan facility which was never granted to our client."