The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has dismissed a motion of preliminary objection filed by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) against a 2021 judgment ordering it to pay N1m to one of its customers, Dr. Sonny Ajala, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, over unauthorised debits on the customer’s account.
The judgment, delivered by Hon. Justice A. S. Adepoju and Hon. Justice A. Y. Shafa at the Gwagwalada division of the court on July 18, 2024, upheld the decision of a Magistrate Court sitting in the FCT.
THE WHISTLER reported that the Magistrate Court had ruled in favour of Ajala, affirming that GTBank had breached its duty of protecting his funds by allowing multiple unauthorised withdrawals from his account.
In 2019, Dr. Ajala said he discovered unauthorised transactions on his GTBank account between May 28 and May 31, 2019, amounting to N37,400.
According to him, he promptly contacted the bank’s customer care service requesting that his debit card be blocked, but the bank failed to act.
This reportedly resulted in further unauthorised transactions on the senior lawyer’s account.
As a result, Ajala pursued legal action in July 2019 against GTBank.
The court found GTBank negligent for not safeguarding Ajala’s account despite instructions to block the compromised card and ordered the bank to refund the amount debited, with interest, along with N1m in damages.
GTBank, represented by its counsel, Charles Nouke, had argued that the customer compromised his personal identification details which the bank claimed led to the transactions.
The bank maintained that the burden of proof was on Dr. Ajala to show that his PIN was not disclosed. The bank relied on legal precedents that place responsibility on the account holder for securing banking credentials.
However, Ajala’s counsel, C. B. Kekong, countered that GTBank failed to exercise due diligence in protecting his funds.
He presented the court with evidence, including correspondence between him and the bank, showing that the unauthorised transactions involved payments to a ride-hailing service, Taxify (now Bolt).
The SAN maintained that the bank did not provide sufficient safeguards against the withdrawals.
In its decision, the court ruled that GTBank had a duty of care to its customers and that failure to prevent unauthorised debits constituted negligence.
The court, however, set aside the post-judgment interest of 25% awarded against GTBank, saying the awarded sum “is injudiciously and outrageous”. The court instead awarded a 10% per annum post-judgment interest.
Consequently, GTBank was mandated to pay Dr. Ajala the N1m awarded by the Magistrate Court in addition to any applicable interest.
