MR. Bala Tsewa Bello Khamofu V. Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited (2016)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

TANI YUSUF HASSAN, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

The appeal is against the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja delivered on the 14th day of January, 2016 in suit No. FCT/HC/CV/532/2014.

The appellant is the Plaintiff at the lower Court. By an Amended Statement of Claim dated the 19th day of May, 2015 and filed the same day, the appellant claims against the Defendant/Respondent as follows:

a) Immediate payment of liquidated sum of seventy seven thousand U.S. Dollars ($77,000.00) being refund of the money taken out of the plaintiff’s domiciliary account No. 0000330499 upon the Plaintiff’s instruction to transfer same to Better Trace Company Ltd account with HSBC Hong Kong, which instruction the defendant failed to carry out successfully while at the same time withholding the plaintiff’s funds despite several demands to pay the money back into the plaintiffs account.

b) Damages in the sum of Thirty eight thousand U. S. Dollars ($38,000.00) for breach of the defendant’s contractual obligation to honour the plaintiff’s instructions which caused the plaintiff to lose a lucrative arrangement for supply of

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building materials.

c) The sum of Three thousand, nine hundred (HKS 3900.00) Hong Kong Dollars being expenses incurred by plaintiff in the effort to trace what became of the plaintiff’s money.

Briefly put, the facts of the case are that, the appellant is a building engineer and a businessman who is a customer to the respondent and maintains a domiciliary account (dollar account) No. 00003304999 with the respondent. The respondent is a Bank at plot 374 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent Wuse II, Abuja branch with its Head office at plot 1058 Ajose Adeogun Street Victoria Island, Lagos.

On the 18th of May, 2011, the appellant, in his amended statement of claim averred that he instructed the respondent to transfer the sum of Fifty thousand U.S. Dollars ($50,000.00) less bank charges to the account of Better Trace Co. Ltd, Hong Kong and Shangai Banking Corporation Limited (hereinafter, HSBC) at HSBC office on the 12thFloor, HSBC Centre Tower 1 Hong Kong into Account No. 817423833838.

On the 22nd of May, 2011, the appellant instructed the respondent to transfer another sum of Twenty seven thousand U.S. Dollars ($27,000.00) less banking charges to the same

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account of Better Trace Co. Ltd at HSBC in Hong Kong.

The appellant averred that his account with the respondent has been debited in the sum of Seventy seven thousand U.S Dollars in compliance with his instruction but the respondent never transferred the money to the account of Better Trace Co. Ltd at the Hong Kong Office of HSBC as instructed. The respondent on its part said, it indeed carried out the appellant’s instruction.