LAST Thursday, the broadcast media empire, DAAR Communications Plc got legal relief from the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Idris Abubakar, when he ruled that his court never made an order for monies belonging to DAAR Communications Plc and lodged in 17 commercial banks and the Central Bank to be paid to Fidelity Bank.In a statement made available to The Guardian, the Corporate Communications Director of the electronic media company, Mr. Johnson Onime, claimed that DAAR Communications lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome had drawn the attention of the presiding judge to a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) addressed to the Managing Director of DAAR Communications wherein the SEC wrote inter alia, 'it has come to the knowledge of the commission that Fidelity Bank Plc has obtained a court order to the effect that all monies due to DAAR Communications Plc in 17 banks and CBN be paid to fidelity bank.'SEC, in the release was quoted to have stated further that 'the implication of the court order may stifle your internal operation. The board of directors of DAAR Communications Plc is therefore being invited to a meeting to brief SEC on the matter on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 by 11am at the commission's head office in Abuja.'According to Onime, Chief Ozekhjome told Justice Abubakar that the court did not give any such orders and that the action of Fidelity Bank was in furtherance of its pursuits to shut down and destroy Africa's most vibrant independent electronic media conglomerate.He urged the judge to make an order from the bench for the sake of equity since a garnishee order nisi is not an executory order.In his ruling, Justice Abubakar was reported to have said 'I am in possession of a letter purportedly written by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dated April 3, 2012 wherein SEC said it was in receipt of a court order to the effect that all monies paid due to DAAR Communications Plc in 17 banks and the CBN be paid to Fidelity Bank.''For the avoidance of doubt, I want to state that this court never made the said order. This court made an order, a garnishee order nisi which was directed to the garnishees to show cause why the debt claimed should not be attached to answer through the judgement debt and the cost of the garnishee proceedings.'Also Justice Abubakar was reported to have explained that the court further ordered that the garnishee order nisi be served on the ganishee and the judgement debtor emphasizing that 'this is not an order that all monies due to DAAR Communications Plc in 17 banks and the CBN be paid to Fidelity Bank.'Let me state that the service of the garnishee order nisi does not operate as a transfer of ownership of the debt of the judgement debtor to the judgement creditor, it merely creates an equitable charge on the debt.'According to Justice Abubakar, 'an order nisi by the court in a garnishee proceedings does not conclude execution of a judgement but is just a first step in garnishee proceedings that opens up a number of enquiries that must be made on the reactions of the garnishees through the order nisi adding that 'this clarification has become necessary in order to avoid further misrepresentation.'It would be recalled that DAAR Communications Plc and Fidelity Bank are in court over disagreements on the exact amount the former owes the later from the monies borrowed by DAAR to execute Nigeria's hosting of the under 17 world cup championship in 2009.The media organisation insisted it had fulfilled its obligations to Fidelity Bank having paid N4.2 billion in a judgment debtor matter before Justice Abubakar while Fidelity Bank had forcefully impounded its over N1.2 billion in several of its accounts domiciled in the bank some time last year, bringing the total amount paid so far by DAAR Communications Plc to N5.4 billion.DAAR further claimed it had reached an agreement in principle with Fidelity Bank to pay N5.2 billion as full and final settlement.In a related development, the bankruptcy proceedings against the person of High Chief Raymond Dokpesi by Fidelity Bank Plc, it was learnt, could not go on last Tursday as a result of counter affidavits filed by the bank on Wednesday morning. The matter was adjourned to June 19, 2012 to enable DAAR Communications respond.
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