The Secretary General, Nigeria Shipowners Association (NISA), Tunji Brown has denied claims by Fidelity Bank that his company, Panafric Ocean & Energy Limited is owing the bank N220.7million.
In a publication it made on Monday, Fidelity Bank had listed Panafric among “delinquent customers whose obligations are past due”.
But in reaction to the publication and an article on the subject by SHIPS & PORTS DAILY yesterday, Brown said: “Please note, we are not owing Fidelity Bank the loan listed against our company’s name.
“The company was granted N600million Warehousing Finance loan for 5,000MT of Gasoil in 2008. The product was discharged into storage tank and jointly sold by the bank and the company but due to major oil price crash in 2008 we lost almost 50% of the value.
“Our account was in debit for the shortfall with accumulated interest. However, we have fully paid the capital plus part interest to the bank. The published amount does not reflect our bank balance with Fidelity Bank.”
Panafric’s Fidelity Bank account statement, which the NISA scribe mailed to SHIPS & PORTS DAILY yesterday, did not show any indebtedness to the bank.
Attempts to reach Fidelity Bank to find out the reasons why it listed Panafric among its list of non-performing loans proved abortive, as none of the staff at the bank’s branch in Apapa was willing to speak on the matter.
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