Parallex Bank Limited has asked a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court to dismiss the N7.15 billion suit filed against it by FHT Mega Express Limited, a logistics firm.
In the notice of preliminary objection urging the court to
set aside an interim ex parte order that led to the freezing of its funds, and
also seeking dismissal of the suit, the bank is alleging abuse of court
process, forum shopping, and suppression of material facts.
FHT Mega Express had sued Parallex Bank alongside the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation
(NDIC), prompting the court to order the regulators to freeze N7,154,677,000
standing to the credit of Parallex Bank.
Hauwa Gummi, judge of the FCT high court, sitting in
Asokoro, Abuja, had on December 18, 2025, directed the CBN and NDIC to withhold
the funds in an interest-yielding account pending the hearing and determination
of the motion on notice.
BACKGROUND
Court filings show that the dispute stems from a banking
relationship between FHT Mega Express and Parallex Bank over funds deposited
for the issuance of letters of credit (LC).
FHT Mega Express told the court that it deposited N7.15
billion with Parallex Bank as cash collateral for letters of credit valued at
about $7.31 million to finance import transactions.
According to the logistics firm, Parallex Bank issued an
indicative offer of banking facilities in June 2023, assuring that the LC would
be issued promptly once the cash collateral was provided, while foreign
exchange sourcing would commence immediately.
However, FHT Mega Express alleged that the bank failed to
issue the LC as agreed and delayed the purchase of foreign exchange during a
period of volatility in the FX market.
The claimant further alleged that when the goods arrived in
Nigeria, the bank demanded additional funds to cover an FX differential and
refused to release the bill of lading, and that the imported goods were
eventually auctioned by the Nigeria Customs Service due to abandonment.
FHT Mega Express said repeated demands for either execution
of the transaction or a refund of its funds were unsuccessful, leading it to
seek an interim court order to preserve the money pending resolution of the
dispute.
PRIOR SUITS
Parallex Bank, however, told the Abuja court that the
dispute predates the FCT action and is already the subject of litigation before
another court.
According to the bank, it had, on September 4, 2025, filed a
suit at the federal high court in Lagos, marked FHC/L/CS/1774/2025, seeking to
recover an alleged N4.5 billion indebtedness owed by FHT Mega Express.
The bank said the debt arose from several letters of credit
issued to finance import transactions running into several million euros.
On October 14, 2025, Lewis Allagoa, judge of the federal
high court in Lagos, ordered all parties to maintain the status quo pending the
determination of the substantive suit.
Parallex Bank further alleged that instead of submitting to
the jurisdiction of the Lagos federal high court, FHT Mega Express filed a
similar action at the Lagos state high court, seeking ex parte orders to freeze
the bank’s funds.
The bank claimed the Lagos state high court declined to
grant the ex parte reliefs and directed that the bank be put on notice, after
which FHT Mega Express discontinued the suit.
ABUJA SUIT
According to Parallex Bank, the logistics firm subsequently filed the present action in Abuja, raising substantially the same issues and seeking similar interim reliefs.
The bank alleged that FHT Mega Express failed to disclose to
the FCT high court the existence of the federal high court suit, the subsisting
status quo order issued in Lagos, and its failed attempt to secure ex parte
orders at the Lagos state high court.
Parallex Bank argued that the alleged non-disclosure
amounted to suppression of material facts and misled the court into granting
interim reliefs that should not have been made.
In urging the court to dismiss the suit, Parallex Bank
argued that the Abuja action amounts to an attempt to re-litigate issues
already pending before the federal high court.
The bank said the subject matter of the dispute—letters of
credit and obligations arising from them—falls within the exclusive
jurisdiction of the federal high court.
It also alleged that the multiple suits were filed to harass
and frustrate its efforts to recover the alleged debt.
In an affidavit sworn to by Cynthia Akunaeziri, a manager at
Parallex Bank, the financial institution detailed the letters of credit
facilities involved and said the federal high court action seeks both recovery
of the alleged debt and enforcement of its banker’s lien over goods financed
through the LC.
The bank also said the Lagos state high court, after
striking out the suit filed there, ordered FHT Mega Express to undertake
corrective publications over alleged damaging information circulated against
it.
The judge adjourned the matter to February 4 for the hearing
of Parallex Bank’s preliminary objection.
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