A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 22 for hearing in a suit filed by the former Managing Director of the defunct Oceanic International Bank Plc, Cecilia Ibru, challenging an alleged illegal implementation of the terms of the plea bargain and settlement agreement leading to her conviction in October 2010.
Hearing in the matter, which is before Justice Ahmed Mohammed, was stalled by the strike embarked upon by judiciary workers in January.
Ibru and some other plaintiffs had filed the suit urging the court to nullify the striping of the assets and the subsequent sale of Oceanic Bank International Plc. to Ecobank Plc as same was not part of the plea bargain and settlement agreement which she signed as the basis of her conviction.
They urged the court to declare the sale of the defunct bank “a sham, misconceived, mischievous and of no legal consequences.”
The plaintiffs also urged the court to declare that Aero Contractors Nigeria Limited was not on the list of assets that Ibru forfeited to the Federal Government as part of her plea bargain.
They asked the court to declare that any attempt by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria to “take over the airline or attach its assets as ultra vires, of no legal consequences.”
Apart from Ibru, who acts on behalf of herself and the Ibru Groups, the other plaintiffs in the suit are Sidochem Industries Ltd., Edgar Sido and Dr. Francis Sido.
