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Joseph Ikhide Akinola Arumemi-Ikhide is the first name on the claim form, a man placed by the filing at 32 Bori Road, Rumuibekwe, Port Harcourt, and named as first defendant in a bank claim brought far from that address, in the British Virgin Islands, over a freehold property in Surrey, England. The man is the founder of Arik Air, and the claim form puts him at the head of a three-defendant case in which Investec Bank (Mauritius) Limited asked a court in Tortola to hold his position, and the position of the two defendants named with him, exactly where it stood while a house in Weybridge remained unsold.
The claim was filed on 14 December 2020 in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, in the High Court of Justice, Virgin Islands, Commercial Division, under Claim No. BVIHCM2020/217. The court stamp on the form records the filing at 10.51 on that day. Investec Bank (Mauritius) Limited is the claimant. Joseph Ikhide Akinola Arumemi-Ikhide is the first defendant. Mary Ehiomome Arumemi-Ikhide is the second defendant. St. Gregory Holding Limited is the third defendant.
According to documents in possession of SecretsReporters, the claim form gives one address for the first and second defendants, 32 Bori Road, Rumuibekwe, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The form gives the third defendant an address at Jayla Place, Wickham’s Cay I, PO Box 3190, Road Town, Tortola, VG1110, British Virgin Islands. The property at the centre of the claim is identified in the form as the freehold property on Granville Road, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0QJ, United Kingdom, known as the Waverley Property.
The Relief the Bank Asked the Court to Grant
Against all three defendants, the claimant asked the court for a final injunction. In the words of the claim form, the bank sought an order restraining the first, second and third defendants, while the Waverley Property remains unsold, from transferring, selling, encumbering, disposing of any interest in, or otherwise dealing with any or all of the issued shares in the third defendant, and from dealing with the third defendant generally. The restraint the bank asked for was tied to the shares in St. Gregory Holding Limited, and it was to run for as long as the Weybridge property remained unsold.
The claim form lists two further heads of relief after the injunction. The bank asked for further or other relief, and it asked for costs. The form states that the grounds for the relief sought are set out in the Statement of Claim filed with the claim form. The form also records that the claimant reserved its right to file further evidence in support of the claim. The claim form itself carries no money claim, no loan figure and no sum of any kind against any of the three defendants. What it carries is the request for the injunction, the request for further or other relief, and the request for costs.
The Names and Signatures on the Filing
The claimant’s address for service is given as care of Maples and Calder, Kingston Chambers, 5th Floor, Ritter House, Wickhams Cay II, Road Town, Tortola, VG1110. The claim form was filed on 14 December 2020 by Olga Osadchaya of Maples and Calder, named on the form as legal representatives for the claimant, with an address at 5th Floor, Ritter House, PO Box 173, Road Town, Tortola, VG1110, British Virgin Islands. The form carries a certificate of truth signed by Helena Cloete, who certified that she believed the facts stated in the claim form are true. Helena Cloete signed as General Counsel, for and on behalf of the claimant. The back page of the form repeats the parties and gives the Maples and Calder reference for the matter.
The notice printed on the claim form tells the defendants what the filing required of them. It states that the claim form must contain or have served with it either a statement of claim or a copy of a court order entitling the claimant to serve the claim form without a statement of claim. It states that a defendant who did not complete the acknowledgment of service form served with the claim form, and deliver or send it to the Court Office so that the office received it within 28 days of service, faced an application by the claimant to have judgment entered against that defendant. The notice advises the defendants to consider obtaining legal advice on the claim. It states that the claim form has no validity if it is not served within 12 months of its date, unless it is accompanied by an order extending that time.
The Court Office named in the notice is at Sakal Building, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The notice gives the office telephone number as +1 284 468 5001 and its facsimile number as +1 284 468 4951. The claim form records no judgment, no defence and no court order, and it records no outcome for the injunction the bank asked the British Virgin Islands court to grant.
Download the full court document: here
Source: …Secretsreporters