AMCON laments conflicting court orders and difficult processes
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Conflicting court orders are frustrating efforts by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to recover N3.6 trillion bad debts owed banks by corporates and individuals, lawmakers have been told.
AMCON Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Ahmed Kuru said N1.4 trillion has been recovered out of N5 trillion bad debt owed banks but recovering the balance N3.6 trillion is proving hard.
He made the disclosure at the House of Representatives Banking and Currency Committee retreat with AMCON in Lagos, where he was represented by AMCON Group Head of Asset Management Directorate Matthew Coker.
Kuru said the recovery comprises cash N681 billion; Property Forfeiture N279 billion; Share Forfeiture N140 billion; and other strategic assets N208 billion.
He confirmed that a total N116.9 billion cash has been recovered on Polaris EBAs from date of acquisition to date.
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Ineffective special powers
Kuru told the lawmakers that despite Special Powers provided by its enabling Act, AMCON struggles with implementation due to the nature of the judicial system, per reporting by Vanguard.
“The Corporation’s recovery processes at this point majorly depend on the judiciary i.e., Obtaining Possessory Orders or Orders for sale.
“The slow pace of our court processes and sometimes conflicting orders by the courts, especially at the Federal High Court (FHC), which is our court of first instance, frustrate the recovery process. There are delays in obtaining dates in the court to hear AMCON matters.
“Deposit of judgment sum as provided for in the act is not enforced by the courts, some of the obligors are still active contractors of the government.
“They carry out businesses with government with debtor company names or other pseudo names and the BOFIA Act that provided for a Special Tribunal on recovery and enforcements would have hastened the adjudication of our matters in court if the judiciary had constituted a task force specifically in that regard.”
