EXPOSED: How Multichoice Nigeria was defrauded of N7.9 billion by JNFX Limited

Multichoice Nigeria Limited, a company engaged in the provision of satellite television services across Africa, was defrauded of the total sum of N7.9 billion in a controversial foreign currency exchange deal, court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES have shown.

The botched foreign currency exchange transaction involved Akintunde Giwa, a currency exchange broker; JNFX Limited, a currency exchange firm; Ashay Mervyn, a representative of JNFX, and Frontier Financial Technologies Limited.

Mr Giwa is a currency exchange broker who earns a commission by assisting those looking to buy US dollars with Nigerian Naira. JNFX is a private limited company incorporated in England and engaged in foreign exchange and international money transfer business. Frontier Financial Technologies Limited is a Nigerian company where Mr Mervyn is a director, court documents showed.

The case was brought before Stuart Isaacs, who sat as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, in the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales. The judgment was delivered remotely to the parties’ representatives by e-mail and released to the National Archives on 2 April.

While the claimant, Mr Giwa, was represented by Matthew Bradley and Rumen Cholakov as instructed by Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP, Joseph Wigley (instructed by Cooke, Young & Keidan LLP) appeared on behalf of the first defendant, JNFX Limited.

Mr Mervyn and Frontier Financial Technologies Limited – listed as second and fourth defendants, respectively – had no representatives in the case.

The claim against the third defendant, JNFX Nigeria Limited, was discontinued and the company was excluded from the judgment.

PREMIUM TIMES’ review of court documents showed that MultiChoice Nigeria had engaged Mr Giwa and his companies for many years to arrange the exchange of Naira for dollars in connection with MultiChoice Nigeria’s business. According to Mr Giwa, he acted on Multichoice Nigeria’s behalf in arranging with JNFX, under 10 Multichoice contracts, for the exchange of Naira into dollars.

In the proceedings at the UK court, MultiChoice Nigeria assigned its claims to Mr Giwa, whose primary dealings with JNFX were conducted with Mr Mervyn, a representative of JNFX “who had ostensible if not actual authority from JNFX to enter into the MultiChoice Contracts.”

Court documents showed that Multichoice Nigeria Limited paid N7.9 billion (N7,914,209.196.50) to Mr Giwa, the currency exchange broker, who in turn made payments to JNFX Limited, a currency exchange firm, under the MultiChoice contracts. Details showed that the satellite service company paid the Naira into the bank accounts of companies controlled by Mr Giwa and were then sent to bank accounts nominated by JNFX through Mr Mervyn in return for dollars to be paid into an account held at Standard Chartered Bank in London in the name of MultiChoice Africa, another company within the MultiChoice group of companies.

However, no dollar payments (amounting to $16.2 million) were received by the company in return, according to Mr Giwa.

From early 2021, court documents show, Mr Mervyn increasingly instructed Mr Giwa to send the Naira to a bank account held at First City Monument Bank in Nigeria in the name of Frontier Limited. Mr Giwa alleged that JNFX and Mr Mervyn failed to pay into the MultiChoice Account the full equivalent dollar sums or to reimburse MultiChoice Nigeria its Naira. A total of N7.9 billion (N7,914,209.196.50) was paid to JNFX under the MultiChoice contracts for which no dollar payments (amounting to $16,230,369) were received in return.

The tenth and last contract, concluded on 8 September 2021, provided for the conversion of N4.9 billion into $10 million but no dollar sum was paid in return for the Naira amount paid.

Meanwhile, the court documents showed that Mr Mervyn and Frontier, a Nigerian company where Mr Mervyn is a director, have not responded to the claims against them and have taken no part in the proceedings.

Interestingly, Mr Mervyn had been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of obtaining money under false pretence and fraudulent conversion of funds. The UK court said that his whereabouts are unknown and a worldwide freezing order (WFO) had earlier been granted against him and Frontier in 2022 but was discontinued in June 2023.

JNFX in its argument stated, among others, that Mr Mervyn lacked actual authority to enter into the Multichoice contract and act as its agent.

In his arguments, Mr Giwa, on whom the burden of proof lies, submitted that JNFX has no realistic prospect of showing that Mr Mervyn is not guilty of deceit and lacked ostensible authority to act as its agent in entering into the MultiChoice contracts and that it is not therefore liable for Mr Mervyn’s deceit. He also argued against the claim that JNFX would not in any event have been obliged to fulfil any of its obligations under the MultiChoice contracts due to the requirement in its standard terms of business which would have governed them that all payments to it must be made to a bank account in the name of JNFX.

JNFX on its part argued that the quantum of Mr Giwa’s claim should be reduced to $8.4 million ($8,429,369) in light of dollar payments made by it for which no credit has been given, adding that his application raises complex issues of fact which need to be the subject of disclosure and evidence at a trial.

Source: Premium Times