The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has withdrawn an order freezing 18 bank accounts of an oil company, Petralon 54 Limited, and its parent company, Petralon Energy Limited.
The initial action was due to an application by Eurafric Energy praying to the court to freeze the accounts.
Ruling on the motion, Justice Daniel Osiagor held that the court was misled to grant the order.
He unfroze the bank accounts and canceled the Post No Debit order already in effect across all the restrained banks. The court agreed that it was misled into granting the restraining order.
Eurafrica Energy had approached the court, praying it to bar operations and transactions on the bank accounts belonging to Petralon 54, its parent company, Petralon Energy, and an unrelated company Tako E&P Solution.
It was on the ground that the three oil companies did not declare the total quantity of crude sold, the amount it was sold and the royalty paid to the government.
But, Petralon 54, in a motion, prayed the court to lift the order banning the operation of its account.
It argued that the defendants, particularly Eurafric Energy ‘suppressed and deliberately’ hid material facts concerning the case from the court.
