…Declares bank’s action unlawful, void
A Magistrate Court sitting in Surulere, Lagos has ordered Polaris Bank to refund deductions illegally carried out on domiciliary and Naira accounts of three business women with the bank to the tune of $30,769 (USD).
The concerned businesswomen, namely; Mrs. Adebomi Orogun, Mrs. Kehinde Banjo, and Mrs. Oluwatoyin Ode had filed an originating application before the court against the bank over unjustifiable freezing of their accounts and subsequent illegal deductions on the said accounts.
This followed an application pursuant to Order 1 Rule 2 of the Magistrates’ Courts Civil Procedure Rules of Lagos State (2009), in which the businesswomen told the Court how their USD (US Dollar), Euro, and Naira accounts were frozen by the bank without a valid court order.
The affected customers noted that the bank proceeded to make unauthorized deductions from their accounts without any justification whatsoever, stressing that there was no time they were accused of engaging in fraudulent activities with the said accounts.
Specifically, in her affidavit in support of the application, the first applicant – Orogun, who maintained USD, Euro, and Naira accounts with Polaris Bank, told the Court that the bank usually deducts the requisite commission after every transaction she made.
In her words; “I recently wanted to transfer money with my Euro account, only to discover that I no longer have access to make any transaction. I also discovered that there was no available balance left in my USD account.
“I was confused and had to make an inquiry with the bank to know the reason why I no longer have access to my Euro account and why my USD account was cleared out.
“However, I was informed by the Bank that they had not been deducting the proper commission per transaction on my account which they only commence later and ultimately led to my USD account being cleared out.
“This action carried out by the Bank was done entirely without recourse to me, who believed that all due commissions had been deducted and I had enough balance to plan my life with.
“On the 4th of March, 2022, I was shocked to discover that all my accounts (USD, EURO, and Naira) with the respondent (Polaris Bank) had been frozen and a post no debit order was placed on them,” she said
Orogun further told the Court that she was neither informed nor given a satisfactory reason for the cruel act by the bank.
According to her; “I did not engage in any fraudulent activity nor have I been officially accused of same by the bank. Hence, the freezing and placing of a post no debit on my accounts was totally unnecessary”.
Orogun therefore noted the actions of Polaris Bank greatly disrupted her business activities and seriously subjected her to financial cruelty with no hope as to when her accounts would be unfrozen.
She said the actions of Polaris Bank caused her financial distress due to her inability to complete pending transactions.
Similarly, the other applicants deposed to affidavits containing the same facts saying that Polaris Bank failed to show nor present any evidence to counter their claims.
After hearing and reviewing the facts of the case, Magistrate Oluwatoyin Otitoju ruled that the action of Polaris Bank was illegal and void.
The Court further ruled; “An order of this Honourable Court is hereby made declaring the “post no debit” order placed on the 1st applicant USD, Euro, and Naira accounts and 2nd applicant’s USD and Naira accounts, and 3rd applicant’s USD and Naira accounts by the respondent (Polaris Bank) as illegal.
“An order of this Honourable Court is hereby made declaring the unauthorized deductions from the 1st applicant’s USD account, 2nd applicant’s USD account, and 3rd applicant’s USD account as illegal and void.
“An order of this Honourable Court is hereby made directing the respondent to revert the applicants’ accounts back to status quo as of 17th January 2022,” the Court declared.
