N2.16 billion Debt: Polaris Bank reacts as court issues Garnishee order

Polaris Bank on Saturday reacted to media reports that an Ondo state High Court had granted a garnishee order directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to freeze its account.

The bank in a press statement said the court order was to “set aside the contentious judgment sum until conclusion of hearing in the case.”

Reports said Friday that an Ondo State High Court, in Akure, the state capital, granted a garnishee order directing the Central Bank of Nigeria to freeze the account of Polaris Bank to the extent of judgment debt of over N2 billion.

The bank was said to have owed the Ondo State government a sum of N2.2 billion.

Punch newspaper reported that the court gave the order following an application moved by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ondo State, Charles Titiloye.

The commissioner applied for the ‘garnishee order nisi’ in the suit No AK/75/2017, attaching all the sums of indebtedness of Polaris Bank to Ondo State Government, the report said.

A garnishee order is one of the options open to a judgment creditor to enforce a judgment that has been made in its favor.

Reaction

In its reaction Saturday, Polaris Bank claimed that it is yet to be served the Garnishee Order as required by law relating to Garnishee proceedings.

“We are aware of the matter and our Solicitor has filed necessary processes to set aside the Garnishee order,” the bank said.

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“The matter is on appeal and an application for stay of execution is pending at the Court of Appeal.Thus, the garnishee order ought not to have been obtained by the reason of the pending appeal and motion for stay.

“Above all, the effect of the order is not to freeze the Bank’s account with CBN as erroneously published by a section of the media but to set aside the contentious judgment sum until conclusion of hearing in the case.”