Court Orders FCMB To Pay Pastor N540.5M Over False Claim
Category: Business News
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja has ordered
FCMB to pay N540,500,000.00 in damages to Pastor Emmanuel Omale of the Divine
Hand of God Prophetic Ministry and his wife, Deborah, over the false claim
that he laundered N573 million for the former Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu.
In his landmark
judgment on Tuesday, Justice Yusuf Halilu, held that FCMB recklessly breached
the duty of care it owed to the claimants – Omale, his wife, and their church.
The judgment was on the suit marked: FCT/HC/CV2541/2020 filed by
Omale, his wife, and the church.
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During the investigation of Magu by the Justice Isa Salami-led
presidential investigation panel, it was claimed that an investigation by the
Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) revealed that Magu paid N573m into
Omale’s church’s account with which a property was allegedly bought in Dubai,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
But in his verdict on Tuesday, Justice Halilu noted that the evidence
before his court showed that the bank admitted error in its report to the
NFIU, of entries in Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry’s account.
The judge further held that the bank claimed that the purported
N573m was wrongly reflected as a credit entry in Divine Hand of God Prophetic
Ministry’s account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded.
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Justice Halilu noted that the bank admitted the error, which occasioned
incalculable damage to the reputation of Pastor Omale, his wife, and their
church both within and outside the country.
The judge further held
that the claimants provided sufficient evidence to establish a case of
negligence against the bank.
Justice Halilu thereafter proceeded to award N200m as aggravated damages;
N140,500,000 as specific damages and N200m as general damages.
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