N135bn debt: Court strikes out AMCON’s case against Ifeanyi Ubah

The criminal charge filed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) against Ifeanyi Ubah and his company, Capital Oil and Gas Limited, has been dismissed by the federal high court sitting in Lagos.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Channels TV said Oluwaseun Onabowu, counsel to AMCON, gave an oral application to withdraw the suit.

Ubah, the senator representing Anambra south, and Capital Oil were hit with a lawsuit for alleged false claims and a debt of N135 billion.

The federal government had in 2019, filed charges against Ubah and Capital Oil, leading to the court, on June 13, 2023, directing criminal summons be issued to the senator and his company.

The order was given on an 8-count charge bordering on his alleged indebtedness to AMCON.

According to the debt-recovery agency, Ubah and Capital Oil allegedly conspired to make false claims in relation to the actual values of certain assets transferred to AMCON under a consent judgment he and his company made with AMCON.

The defendants were also alleged to have obstructed AMCON in the realisation of part of his outstanding debt of N135 billion by frustrating the sale of a property at Banana Island, Lagos.

Speaking at the proceedings, Onabowu said the parties had agreed to withdraw the case against the senator in Lagos after a consent judgment was reached in a sister case before the federal capital territory (FCT) court in Abuja.

The court was urged by the AMCON counsel to strike out the charge filed against the defendants.

Affirming the position of AMCON, Ifeoma Esom, the lawyer to Ubah and Capital Oil, confirmed to the court that agreements have been reached with the complainant.

Subsequently, Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, struck out the charge.

Jude Nwauzor, AMCON’s head, corporate communications department, did not answer calls and messages from TheCable to confirm the withdrawal of the case.