Chief Great Ogboru

By Oghenekevwe Laba
The management of Fiogret Limited, company owned by Delta State Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) Governorship candidate in 2011 general election, Chief Great Ovadje Ogboru has denied being indebted to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) or in any receivership arrangement with the organization.
AMCON on Thurday has dragged Ogboru to an Abuja court saying that the Delta politician is owing N33m on which Fiogret Limited was made the receivership.
Reacting to the claim, Fiogret Management in a press statement dated March 22, 2013, signed by its media consultant Doyin Iyiola, made available to Urhobotoday described the claim as false, arguing that what has manifested into receivership and indebtedness was the handiwork of the fraudulent manipulation of Deed of Mortgage debenture by former Delta State Governor James Ibori
“The truth is that one Kunle Ogunba SAN procured a receivership position from Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, based on a fraudulent Deed of Mortgage Debenture. The said Deed was never a collateral requirement with us in any dealing with the Equitorial Trust Bank, ETB, or any bank for that matter.
“We know from the search at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, that Wale Babalakin and Co, a firm belonging to Wale Babalakin, a friend of James Ibori, now in prison in London and one Tade Oyewunmi, between September and December 2009, approached the CAC fraudulently and changed the Legal Mortgage which we signed to a Deed of Mortgage Debenture which gave them power to appoint a receiver on the company. This was done 660 days after the mandatory 90 days required.
“That fraudulent act is what Ogunba is manifesting in the court right now. We know that no amount of legal work can make a fraud or a void act to stand in law. Therefore, Ogunba is on a quicksand and will soon disappear. In all of this, Fiogret Limited is unshaken and unshakeable. They come against one way and they flee several ways.

“That same Ogunba accused us of not paying our debts. Our answer is that only debts that are genuine or reasonable are payable. An interest of 176 years catapulted from N100 million to N3.5 billion in four years is only payable by fraudsters. We are not fraudsters; we are a genuine business with a net worth of over four billion Naira,” the statement explained.

Stressing further on the issue, the statement pointed out, “We have been law abiding and have handed all grievances to the courts. If and when the courts pronounce what we are liable to pay and we cannot, then we are debtors. Until then, we ask all detractors to shut up. As stated above, Forget Limited has a net worth of not less than N4.5 billion and will meet its genuine obligations when due. Such a company like ours we say is gilted and not insolvent.
“In all of this, we may add that only a few days ago, AMCON adjusted the so called debts of Fiogret Limited from the N6.1 billion to a mere N650 million. Before that, AMCON had published in ThisDay, 21 September 2012 edition, that it valued our debts at N617 million. This has since been the basis of their offer and of course, the basis of our negotiations with AMCON. In any case, Fiogret presently has cash deposit of about N200 million in those banks and fixed assets of about N600 million. Where then is the problem?
“We do not pay dubious debts. We are not shaken. This kind of questionable conduct can happen only in a society where ex-convicts are allowed to hold sensitive and very important official positions in the land”.