Businesswoman drags Diamond Bank to court

A businesswoman, Mrs. Oluwabunmi Ajayi, has taken Diamond Bank to court over alleged delay in crediting her account.

A Magistrates Court, sitting in Isolo, Lagos, fixed the date for final hearing in the suit brought against Diamond Bank over a controversial cash lodgement at its Ojuwoye branch in Lagos.

The bank has got May 15 date in court as final day for hearing.

On March 15, the presiding Magistrate, Mrs. A. Shonubi, adjourned the matter for parties to adopt their written addresses.

The Ajayi took the bank to court over alleged delay in crediting her account after paying in a N2.5 million cheque on June 8, 2015.

According to her, by 6pm the next day when her account was credited, she had missed out on meeting a contractual payment agreement with her business partner, Intercontinental Distillers, leading to a major business lose.

In her evidence-in-chief led by Ike Uzor SAN, Ajayi claimed that she had lodged in a cheque of N2.5million into her account no 0055251925, but was shocked that the N2million cheque issued her business partner was rejected after the lodgement. She is demanding an N2.5million damages from the bank.

She said that the bank neglected and refused to honour the N2million cheque issued to Intercontinental Distillers even though there was enough credit in her account. The company thereafter allegedly refused to grant her credit facilities again following the dishonoring of the cheque by the bank.

She added that her business partner also passed the surcharge of N100, 000 for the bounced cheque to her, making her to incur more needless loss.

She further told the Court that Intercontinental Distillers was giving her a credit facility of N3million weekly, which was stopped forthwith right after the cheque was dishonored, throwing her entire business into crisis.

Ajayi explained that she has written two letters of demand to the defendant but no positive response was got from the bank, except a letter denying any wrong doing.

Under cross-examination, the bank took the claimant to task about the time of lodgement, insisting that it committed no infraction going by the grace given banks by the Central Bank concerning cheque lodgements.

The bank had earlier withdrawn its preliminary objection to the suit for which the Court fined it N5, 000 on July 27, 2016.