Diamond Bank Defrauds West and Gate (W&G) Limited of N150M

Alex Otti, CEO, Diamond Bank

Diamond Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s financial institutions is in a fresh crisis.
This time, the bank is being alleged of illegally deducting the sum of N150 million from one of its customers account.
In a letter written to Diamond Bank Plc by Citi Lawyers solicitors of a
company identified as West and Gate (W&G) Limited, they are demanding a refund of the sum of N150 million to their clients.
According to the letter, the said sum was illegally deducted by Diamond Bank Plc’s officials from monies paid by a telecommunication company to their client.
Furthermore, the letter said failure by the bank to remit the money within seven days of receiving the letter would lead to Citi Lawyers forwarding a petition to the appropriate authorities and instituting legal action in a competent court of law.
The drama between Diamond Bank Plc and West and Gate began when the financial institution lost an unsecured loan of N6 billion to Allan Dick West Africa (ADWA) Limited, a telecommunications services firm promoted by Allan Dick Company (ADC), its parent company in United Kingdom in 2007.
Then, having obtained the loan ADWA commenced liquidation without repaying it. However, rather than going after their lost money Diamond Bank Plc took a lion share from N850 million paid to the local contractors of ADWA.