Former Enterprise Bank Limited, now Heritage Bank Limited, has apologised to the Chairman of Banana Republic Limited, Sam Nda-Isaiah, for erroneously including his name, that of his wife, Zainab, and the company’s in the list of debtors published by the bank in two national dailies.
The bank, in a letter to Nda-Isaiah, dated August 31, 2015, admitted the error. “We wish to state regretfully that the inclusion of Banana Republic Limited, your name and that of your wife on the list was done in error.”
The bank told Nda-Isaiah that it held him, his family and Banana Republic in high esteem. “Again, we regret whatever insinuation or public harm done to your persons,” it said.
The apology followed a petition by Nda-Isaiah to the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, explaining the defamation of his character by Enterprise Bank Limited.
The bank had in a newspaper publication on August 10, 2015 listed Banana Republic Limited among its delinquent debtors.
But Nda-Isaiah, in a petition to the CBN governor, called for an investigation into the loan granted to him by the bank.
He explained that in 2013, the food and hospitality firm, where he is the chairman, had approached Enterprise Bank for a facility for the expansion of its business into Maitama District of Abuja and the construction of a five-star hotel in Guzape, Abuja, on a 1.4 hectare hilltop prime location.
According to the politician and Chairman of Leadership Group, the bank advised that the firm should apply for a facility to enable the company to expand into Maitama first before proceeding with a different application for the five-star hotel.
The petition explained extensively how Banana Republic Limited applied for a facility of N80m for the new branch in Maitama and then engaged an international consultancy company to commence a feasibility study on the five-star hotel project.
He explained, “We placed the 1.4 hectare hilltop land in Guzape, worth more than N2bn, as security for the N80m facility since it was the same bank that would also handle the hotel project anyway. The loan was promptly approved by the bank because it was considered a good project.
“But that was when our problem started. It was at this point that our account officers started behaving strangely and unprofessionally. Sometimes they even showed signs of incompetence.
“The breakdown of the approved facility was N67.5m for the purchase of equipment and N12.5m for working capital to operate the restaurant.
“Upon approval, our account manager opened an escrow account in our name without our knowledge and deposited N67.5m and started charging interests right away from, July 25, 2013, on the entire N80m sum, without any form of notification to us.”
Follow Us