The Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST) has fixed December 15 for hearing on the application filed by the estate of late Abubakar Garba Gobir against the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for disobeying a court order.
The tribunal had in its judgment dated January 6, 2023 directed SEC to enforce its decision against FINMAL Finance and Services Limited to pay the accrued dividends totaling N170,036,405.79 to the estate of the late ambassador.
Despite a letter of reminder, FINMAL has refused to comply with the directive, leading the estate to approach the tribunal to seek redress.
The estate has resorted to contempt proceedings against the DG to compel him to comply with the terms of the judgment by enforcing its decision.
The Gobir Estate instituted the suit marked IST/LA/OA/01/2022 and got the judgment that was not complied with and consequently filed Form 48 and 49, which initiated committal proceedings under Order IX Rules 13 of Sheriffs and Civil Process Act 2010.
The applicant is praying the tribunal to compel the respondents: Greenwich Registrar & Data Solutions Limited, FINMAL Finance, Professional Stockbrokers Limited and SEC to obey the order of the tribunal.
At the resumed proceeding, the applicant’s counsel, Ahmed Tafa, told a panel of the tribunal that he had served the respondents form 48 and 49 proceeding application for failure to obey the tribunal order.
He noted that since January 6th, 2023 the respondents ought to have set the machinery in motion for enforcement of its decision but have failed to do so, hence the committal proceeding.
The counsels to the first respondent (Greenwich Registrar), Abubakar Ibrahim; the third respondent (Professional Stockbrokers), Abdulrahman Disu and the fourth respondent (SEC), Momoh Ali announced their appearance while the second respondent (FINMAL) has no legal representation.
In his response to Tafa’s submission, Disu told the tribunal that his client had directed FINMAL to sell the shares in its possession to offset the judgment debt and promised to liaise with the applicant’s counsel to see how they could close the matter.
