The ongoing dispute between Honeywell and Ecobank was said to have taken a new turn last Friday, when the Supreme Court dismissed all three appeals filed by Ecobank for lack of merit.

According to a statement, in a unanimous decision by the learned judges of the apex court, the ruling was that Ecobank’s appeals were frivolous.

“In delivering judgment, the Justices of the Supreme Court reprimanded Ecobank for wasting the Court’s time by filing appeals which it described as frivolous, particularly in light of the myriad of critical matters before the apex court.

“The Supreme Court also advised Ecobank’s lawyers against filing such applications in the future. The court finally awarded costs totaling N2,500,000 against Ecobank and also affirmed the directive for accelerated hearing at the Federal High court as earlier issued by the Court of Appeal,” the statement added.

In its application before the Federal High Court, Honeywell had averred that its payment of the sum of N3.5 billion was full and final settlement of its obligations to the bank; a position which was affirmed in an earlier ruling by the Bankers’ Committee which sought to resolve the matter initially.

But when contacted, a source at Ecobank who pleaded to remain anonymous, faulted the statement, saying “the Supreme Court ruled that the case go back to the High Court.

“That is the summary. That means there is no winner as claimed by the other part.”

•Excerpted from ThisDay report

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