Riding on the order of Hon. Justice J.T. Tshoho (as he then was) of the Federal High Court, Lagos division, which granted the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) judgment against Deap Capital Management and Trust Limited, Hon. Justice A.M. Liman further granted the Corporation leave to attach and sell traced properties of the Chief Promoter of the company, Mr. Emmanuel Ugboh over a distressing indebtedness, which now stands at over N1.6billion.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of the credit balances, monies and/or funds in the bank accounts of Mr. Emmanuel Ugboh in favour of AMCON and in satisfaction of the outstanding judgement sum per judgment of Hon. Justice Tsoho first delivered on January 28, 2015.
In compliance to the enforcement order, AMCON on July 1, 2020 took effective possession of three properties through its Debt Recovery Agent – The law firm of Etonye & Etonye, which include properties situate at No. 38, Dele Orisabiyi Street, Okota-Isolo, Lagos State, No. 75 Femi Kila Street (now renamed 75, Oba Kabiru Agbabiaka Street) Okota, Lagos State, and another property located at No. 79 Femi Kila Street (now renamed 75, Oba Kabiru Agbabiaka Street), Lagos State.
The case of Deap Capital Management and Trust Limited and its promoter has been a prolonged issue because the loan was purchased by AMCON during the first phase of Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) purchases from Zenith Bank and FCMB since 2011. AMCON engaged the company in a legal battle since 2012 and offered the obligor series of opportunities to negotiate his repayment to no avail.
As a matter of fact, due to the lack of adequate collateral, AMCON had to commence asset tracing on Mr. Emmanuel Ugboh, an exercise which revealed properties of the obligor situate in Lagos State, which the Corporation has now enforced upon, which is in line with Section 49 (1) & (2) of the AMCON Act 2019 (As Amended), which states that:
“49 (1) Where the Corporation has reasonable cause to believe that a debtor or debtor company is the bona-fide owner of any movable or immovable property, it may apply to the Court, before or at the time of filing of action for debt recovery or other like action or at any time after the filing of action, and before or after the service of the originating process by which such action is commenced on the debtor or debtor company, by motion ex-parte for an interlocutory order granting possession of the property to the Corporation pending the hearing and determination of the debt recovery or other action to abide the decision in such action.
(2) The Corporation shall serve a certified true copy of the order of the court issued under subsection (1) on the debtor or debtor company. (3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any enactment, an order made under subsection (1) shall subsist till judgment or a final determination of the action, unless expressly discharged by the Court.”