Businessman Threatens To Join EFCC In Suit Against Alibert CEO Charged With Arson
A case against the Managing Director of Alibert Products Nigeria Limited, Maged Ali Ta’an, which began in 2021 is about to take a new turn as the plaintiff has now threatened to join the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the suit.
Abdul Hadi Almustapha, a Kano businessman and CEO of Rasa Beverages Limited, who sued the Ta’an for allegedly setting fire to his property leased to him in order to fraudulently make insurance claim, has written to the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, informing him about an ongoing case against the Lebanese.
In the letter dated 4th October and signed by Okechukwu Nwaeze, his lawyer, Almustapha urged the EFCC chairman not to allow the Lebanese use the agency to subvert justice.
According to Nwaeze, the letter was written following the arrest and illegal detention of a staff of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance PLC by the agency’s Capital Market and Insurance Fraud Unit.
Ta’an allegedly brought in the EFCC to intimidate the insurance company into paying him over N700 million of claims on a property that belongs to Almustapha, and on which he was a tenant.
The Case Against Alibert’s CEO
A two-storey building located on No 5C, Murtala Muhammed Way was leased to Ta’an in 2019 for 10 years at an annual rent sum of N15million. According to the terms of the lease, the tenant was to “fully insure” the premises against fire and theft during the period of lease. The tenant also agreed to indemnify the lessor(landlord) “in the event of a fire outbreak caused by the negligence of the Lessee, its agents.”
According to documents seen by THE WHISTLER, Ta’an allegedly took insurance on the building at Consolidated Hallmark Insurance PLC, Lagos where Alibert’s headquarters is located, without indemnifying the landlord, which was a breach of the lease agreement. But the landlord of the building, Almustapha, was unaware of this fact at the time.
Barely two years into the lease, precisely on December 20, 2021 a mysterious fire razed the building around 1am. Ta’an immediately rushed to the insurance company on the same day to file a fire insurance claim for Alibert Products Nigeria Limited. In the claim form, Ta’an blamed the fire on “transformer fire.”
But subsequent investigation of the incident by the Kano State Fire Service and the state command of the Nigeria Police found that the fire was deliberate. The Police filed a criminal suit against Ta’an, charging him with “wilfully and maliciously” igniting the fire.
The owner of the building, Almustapha also sued him at a Kano High Court on 12th May, 2023. He was charged along with one of his employees, Mustapha Tiamiyu. One of the 3-count charges reads:
“That you Maged Ali Ta’an ‘m’ of No 2 Oduwa Close, Lifecamp, Abuja being the Managing Director/CEO , Alibert Products Nigeria Limited, on the 20th December 2021 at No 5C Murtala Muhammed Way, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, attempt to tamper and meddle with electric cables/wires and electric transformer/fitting used for transforming, converting and supplying electricity to the building No 5C Murtala Muhammed Way, Kano which you occupied as a tenant and used same as showroom , so as to distort facts for the purpose of making fraudulent insurance claim, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (19)(a) 0f the Miscellaneous Offences Act.”
The case has continued to drag since then until the two sides finally agreed to have an out of court settlement on 26th September, 2024. The judge, Justice Aisha Ibrahim Mahmoud, subsequently adjourned the matter and fixed 26th November as date for report of the settlement.
But while the lawyers for both parties are still negotiation the terms of settlement, Ta’an allegedly used his connection and wealth to get the EFCC to invite and detain an account staff of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance in breach of the agreement reached in court.
EFCC May Be Joined
The alleged attempt to use the anti-graft agency to force the insurance company to pay him claims on the Kano property forced the owner of the property to write the EFCC chairman, warning of that it would amount to contempt of court.
The letter obtained by THE WHISTLER, says, “It is unwholesome to note that despite the submission of the counsel in court, the plaintiff in suit No K/76/2023 and the first Defendant in suit No K /250/2023 in breach of his counsel’s submission in open court have continued to push your office to take decisions that may show contempt to the Honourable court and its proceedings by insisting on collecting the insurance payment.
“Take note that if you persist in this contempt; we shall be left with no option than to seek to join your office as party to this suit and seek injunctive reliefs against you. This shall also be without prejudice to our client’s right to take other measures against the commission…”
Almustapha however said he was of the firm believe that the EFCC chairman will make good his various public pronouncements that the commission respects the rule of law.
Businessman Threatens To Join EFCC In Suit Against Alibert CEO Charged With Arson is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
