BY Bolanle Olabimtan
Nacenn Nigeria Limited has petitioned the chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) accusing Yemi Akinseye-George, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), of fraud.
In separate petitions dated October 8, 2020, Nacenn is alleging “professional misconduct, criminal misrepresentation, suppression of material facts and fraud” against Akinseye-George in a N2 billion judgment debt recovery from the federal government.
Meanwhile, Akinseye-George has denied all allegations of fraud and has also instituted a suit against Nacenn, demanding N115 million for services rendered “in recovering the debt”.
The firm is asking the CJN and the NBA to investigate its complaints and refer the petition to the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) as well as the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) “for appropriate sanctions”.
In an affidavit deposed to by Chukwugozie Ezulike, Nacenn’s director, the company said it engaged Akinseye-George by a letter dated February 28, 2018 to help recover N2 billion judgment debts from the federal government.
The firm said it was agreed that the senior lawyer would keep 10 percent of whatever was recovered as his professional fees and the contract would close on March 20, 2018 if the money was not recovered.
The firm said Akinseye-George did not recover any amount within the contractual period.
He was re-engaged on the same terms on April 25, 2018.
Again, no money was recovered by the end of the contract on May 15, 2018.
Ezulike stated that eventually, the federal government paid N100 million and N150 million in June 2018.
He said: “Despite the fact that no effort by Prof. Akinseye-George (SAN) yielded any benefit for the company in form of any payment, Nacenn Nigeria still magnanimously paid him the sums of N10 million and N15 million respectively, representing 10 per cent of the recovered sums as contained in the earlier terms of the engagement letter.”
‘TOOK ADVANTAGE OF DEATH’
Having paid off the SAN, the firm said a letter dated August 10 was sent to him, formally terminating his services to the company.
Following the termination of the contract, N. G. Ezulike, the firm’s CEO, was said to have engaged the services of another lawyer, Henry Iheanacho, to recover the remaining debt.
The CEO passed away on October 23, 2019.
The petitioners claimed that “Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN) immediately took undue advantage of the death to misrepresent to Mr Afam Ezulike, the son of the former chairman/CEO, that his engagement to recover the sum of N2 billion was subsisting, and willfully refused to inform him in actual fact that his contract was terminated on the 10th of August 2019”.
“Furthermore, Prof. Akinseye-George also suppressed the fact and refused to disclose to Mr Ezulike that the law firm of Henry Iheanacho & Co. was engaged to take over from him and the said law firm has commenced work based on the terms of its engagement; despite these facts being personally known to Prof. Akinseye-George,” the petition read.
Shortly after the death of the former CEO, the firm said another N500 million was paid by the federal government in November 2019.
They said the SAN “took advantage of the situation of the death and the fact that the family was in grief and completely unaware of the terms of his earlier engagement and termination and fraudulently demanded the sum of N100 million, being 20 per cent of the N500 million”.
‘MISREPRESENTATION DISCOVERED’
The firm said the family who knew nothing about the lawyer’s disengagement paid the N100 million.
“He equally demanded additional 7.5 per cent of the recovered sum be paid to Henry Iheanacho & Co, which clearly confirms that he is aware that Henry Iheanacho & Co was the one with the subsisting contract to recover the balance of the judgment debt and not him,” the firm claimed.
“The total percentage contained in the demand letter is far above the contemplation and instruction of Nacenn Nigeria to anybody.”
Again in May 2020, the federal government made an additional payment of N416,666,666 to Nacenn.
Becoming aware of the payment, Akinseye-George was alleged to have sent a WhatsApp message to Ezulike demanding for 20 percent ofor himself and an additional seven percent for Henry Iheanacho & Co.
“Fortunately, the new management headed by Mr Ezulike discovered the docket where the various letters of engagement, disengagement and correspondences between their late father and Prof. Akinseye-George were kept,” the petitioners said.
“The documents show that Prof. Akinseye-George misrepresented that he was entitled to 20 per cent of recovered funds as against 10 per cent expressly stated.
“Also, Mr Ezulike discovered that Prof. Akinseye-George’s contract was terminated in August 2019 and was not renewed subsequently.”
NO REMORSE
Upon confrontation by the new management, the firm said the lawyer did not show any sign of remorse.
The firm said it reaffirmed the termination of the senior layer’s engagement on grounds of criminal misrepresentation and fraud but decided to pay him 2.5 per cent of N416,666,666 on compassionate grounds which amounted to N10,416,666.65.
However, the firm said Akinseye-George has continued to insist that he was still entitled to 10 per cent of the sums recovered “inclusive of the ones that are yet to be recovered.”
They claimed that the SAN “in a display of extreme bad faith”, procured an order freezing all funds in its Zenith Bank account, including its operational funds which are not part of the recovered monies.
AKINSEYE-GEORGE FIRES BACK
Akinseye-George has instituted a suit against Nacenn demanding N115 million for services rendered in recovering the debt.
According to him, when he was engaged in February 2018, the former CEO had asked him to all within his powers to recover three judgment debts.
He said despite the expiration of the contract, the deceased told him “to continue to carry out the assignment” — with the assurance that the promised 10 percent would be paid on the recovery of the debt.
He claimed that his “persistent follow ups” caused the ministry of finance to pay the monies received by the company.
The senior lawyer said the company owes him of N73,333,333.27 being 7.5 percent of the N416,666,666 and 10 percent of another payment received by the company in June this year.
He has denied all allegations of fraud.
“I never misrepresented any fact or facts to anybody, including Afam Ezulike, in respect of anything done in the course of the recovery of the entire debt,” the SAN said.
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