In a letter to FBN Holdings, Kunle Ogunba, lawyer of Ecobank, accused Otudeko of “diverting his assets and that of the Honeywell Group of Companies through the said Barbican Capital Limited, in order to frustrate the enforcement of the judgment of the Supreme Court against him and the Honeywell companies, towards recovering his/their undisputed indebtedness to our client”.
The development comes after Otudeko staged a comeback with his 13.3 percent stake in FBNH after snapping up 4.7 billion shares through Barbican Capital, an affiliate of Honeywell Group, last Thursday in an N87.8 billion deal. “We, therefore, demand that you respectfully reject the approval/consent/registration/ratification {howsoever described or in whatsoever manner of the shares bought by the said Barbican Capital Limited held via the afforested entities, as proceeding with such approval/registration will be tantamount to assisting in the diversion of funds/assets meant for the payment of the debt which has been affirmed by the Supreme Court,” Ecobank’s lawyer said in a letter dated July 7, 2023.
Last January, the Supreme Court upheld an earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal against Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and two other firms in dispute with Ecobank over an unsettled debt of N5.5 billion which the bank claimed has now accumulated interests that pushed the repayment to N13.5 billion.