Firm demands $285m judgment sum from CBN – TheNigerialawyer

A communications firm, Interstella Communications Ltd., has told
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to obey a Supreme Court order by
paying them $285 million judgment sum for alleged breach of
contract.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Supreme Court
of Nigeria had in a judgment delivered on Dec. 15, 2017 in Appeal
No. SC 500/2014 ordered that $285 million be paid to Insterstella
Communications Ltd. and Mr Obi Thompson.

Addressing newsmen on Monday, Mr Tony Nnadi, the coordinating
counsel for the judgment creditors (Interstella Communications and
Thompson) said that several efforts had been made to ensure that
CBN complied with the judgment of the apex court but to no
avail.

“The judgment creditors find it inconceivable that a
straightforward matter such as a breach of commercial contract
agreement has gone through the full gamut of legal adjudication in
Nigeria.

“It has gone all the way to the apex court of Nigeria because
they have allowed it to degenerate to this kind of controversy.

“This could aggravate existing concerns in the international
community over the integrity of our national institutions and the
operation of the rule of law in Nigeria,” Nnadi said.

He said that the CBN had refused to respond to three letters of
demand written to Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the CBN.

According to Nnadi, as a result, the judgment creditors will
take an alternate action to receive the judgment sum from the apex
bank.

“The judgment creditors are deliberately being forced to take
inevitable measures offshore, to compel the Federal Government and
the CBN to obey the orders of their own sovereign supreme court,”
he stated.

According to court documents made available to NAN, the judgment
creditors had sued the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) at
the Federal High Court Umuahia in Abia in suit No.
FHC/UM/CS/04.

The suit was instituted for alleged breach of the terms of a
telecommunications contract and damages and judgment was delivered
in favour of the judgment creditors on Nov. 6, 2007.

In October 2008, the judgment debt stood at N23 billion and $48
million and an inter-ministerial committee was set up by the
Federal Government for amicable settlement of the judgment
debt.

As a result, Interstella Ltd. and Thompson (judgment creditors)
accepted N12 billion as full and final settlement of the judgment
debt.

With the consent of the Federal Government (FG) and the
Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the sum N12 billion was
entered as consent judgment in court.

The judgment creditors alleged that the FG and AGF reneged on
the agreement by paying less than 30 per cent of the judgment
sum.

Due to the alleged failure of the FG to pay the full judgment
sum, Interstella Communications Ltd. and Thompson launched
garnishee proceedings against the FG and AGF, which was made
absolute by the High Court.

The CBN, which was to pay the judgment sum, however, appealed
the High Court judgment at the Court of Appeal.

But, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed the
appeal, upholding the judgment of the trial court.

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EFCC Nabs Suspects for Illegal Broadcast of DSTV
Signal

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Uyo Zonal office
on Monday October 14, 2019 arrested two staffs of Communication
Trend Limited, Prisca Isaac, Sales Representative and Nwosu
Precious, Technician at 111 Atiku Abubakar Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom
State for alleged illegal transmission of broadcast signals of
Multichoice (DSTV) to Uyo and environs without authorisation.

The company allegedly charges Three Thousand Five Hundred Naira
(N3, 500.00) and Seven Thousand Five Hundred Naira (N7, 500.00)
monthly as subscription fees to its customers using DSTV and other
decoders without permission.

The arrest followed a petition alleging breach of Multichoice’s
English Premiership broadcast rights.

During the arrest, the following items were recovered: 2 DSTV
Decoders, 1 GOTV Decoder, 28 Well-AV encoders, 3 Transmitters mode
ADC Telecommunications, 3 Modulators, 2 UBS DTX 1008 Transmitters,
2 Startimes Decoders, 1 Omovo TV Decoder, 1Trendy TV Decoder, 1 CTL
N7, 500 Subscription Recharge Cards, 1 CTL N3, 500 Subscription
Recharge Card, Tiger T1000 Decoder and 1 Starsat Decoder.

The suspects will be charged to court when investigation is
concluded.

Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity