Court orders Fidelity Bank to refund customer N337.9m over excess charges

An Imo State High Court sitting in Owerri has ordered Fidelity Bank Plc to refund a total of N337,905,965 to one of its customers, Ifeco Communications Limited, over excess charges deducted from its account.

The ruling was delivered by Justice J. M. Njaka, who held that the deductions made by the bank were unjustified.

Out of the total sum, N327,905,965 represents excess charges—including commission on turnover (COT), legal fees, and management fees—while N10 million was awarded as damages.

The suit, marked HOW/260/2016, was filed by Ifeco Communications Limited and Pretoria City Hotel and Resort Limited against the bank. The plaintiffs sought a declaration that, based on an audit report, the second plaintiff’s actual indebtedness stood at N101,732,109.46, significantly lower than the amount claimed by the bank.

They also argued that it was unlawful and a breach of trust for the bank to deduct funds from the first plaintiff’s account to offset alleged liabilities of the second plaintiff without consent.

Counsel to the plaintiffs, Ben Osaka (SAN), maintained that the audit report by Ambrose Ekoh and Co. showed that the excess charges imposed by the bank were unwarranted.

However, the defence, led by Tochukwu Maduka (SAN), contended that the audit reports were prepared unilaterally during the pendency of the suit and should not be relied upon, arguing they lacked evidential value.

In his judgment, Justice Njaka upheld the audit report, describing it as “reliable, credible, and consistent” with the evidence before the court.

He ruled that since the second plaintiff’s debt had been established at N101.7m, the excess charges against the first plaintiff stood at N327.9m, which the bank must refund.

The court also dismissed the bank’s counterclaim, stating that it failed to provide sufficient and credible evidence to substantiate its claims.

“The reliance on unexplained statements of account and disputed entries, without adequate oral evidence, is fatal,” the judge held.