Dear creditors,

The auditor was tasked with verifying the claims submitted by investors in Benignant Forte Nigeria Limited (in liquidation) by comparing said claims with entries in the bank account statements of the company.

His report highlighted a few anomalies, namely:

1. Some investors’ names (as contained in the claims’ forms submitted to me) were seen in bank statements, but the amounts they claimed to have invested is more than what is disclosed in the credit column in the bank statements i.e. the bank statements suggest that they are claiming more than they actually invested;

2. Some investors’ names (as contained in the claims’ forms submitted to me) were not seen in the bank statements at all, which suggests that they did not invest in the company’s investment programs;

3. Some names showed in the statements as recipients of funds from the company without any preceding credit inflow from them.

The focus of this update is Categories 1 & 2.

Some of the investors in Categories 1 and 2 submitted investment certificates and/or other documents bearing the company’s logo and signed by company staff, but I have since found cogent reason to believe that some of these documents were not backed by actual payments to the company’s account(s), meaning that, in some cases, the company was paying return on investment on monies it never received.

These issues need to be clarified before payment can start so we do not exclude investors who should, ordinarily, be entitled to inclusion in the scheme of repayment.

Accordingly, I have uploaded the list of all investors who fall into Categories 1 & 2, taking care to mask their personal information but disclosing enough for them to identify themselves. The list also has provision for them to upload any documents they have that support their claim. The acceptable documents are bank-generated documents such as account statements, POS receipts, bank transfer advice, etc.

Please note that, for this purpose, I will not accept any document issued by the company as proof of investment. I will only work with documents generated by/from your bank so the auditor can compare the information there with entries on the company’s bank statements.

For those investors whose names are not in any of the uploaded lists, but who submitted their claims before the deadline expired on 31 January 2022, it means the actual amount claimed by such investors has been confirmed as having been received by the company but final vetting is being done by the auditor and committee of inspection to compute the total payout to each confirmed investor to ascertain the balance due to each.

To enable us conclude the phase of verification of claims, I will need each investor to check his/name on the uploaded lists. If your name is there, check the issue stated beside your name and upload bank-generated evidence such as account statements, POS receipts, bank transfer advice, etc, to help us resolve the issue (I repeat: no document issued by Benignant Forte Nigeria Limited is accepted for the purpose of this phase of verification).

If you paid money to any staff of the company for your investment, upload bank-generated proof of that payment to such staff and state his/her name and the date of payment.

For those in Category 1 i.e. the amount claimed is more than what is disclosed in the credit column in the bank statements, use this link: https://ojokoandojoko.com/bfnl-amount-not-upto-claim-list/ 

For those in Category 2 i.e. names (as contained in the claims’ forms submitted to me) were not seen in the bank statements at all, use this link: https://ojokoandojoko.com/bfnl-name-not-found-in-bank-list/ 

If you have difficulty uploading your documents, you can send them by email to [email protected] or send hard copies to my office at Top Floor, 15 Mbonu Street, D/Line, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. For those in Abuja and nearby states, you can send hard copies to ILS ATTORNEYS, House D501, RockCity Estate, Plot 1336 Ibrahim Isiyaku Street, Mabushi, Abuja (Contact No.: Queen – 0913 399 9767)

We have very limited time to wrap up this phase as the verified investors are understandably anxious for payment to commence. I can only allow for three (3) working days to receive the documents needed to resolve the issues identified above. Accordingly, I will stop receiving the documents by 23:59 hours on Thursday, 15 December 2022. If I do not stop, the auditor and committee of inspection will not be able to conclude verification AND START PAYMENT this month.

Any questions should be channeled to the committee member representing the zone to which you belong. My office can be reached on 0808-666-5615 or 0808-666-5617 (8:00am – 5:00pm on Monday – Friday only) to speak with a member of my liquidation team.

Thank you.

Signed,

Emeka D. A. Ojoko ACIArb, ABR, AICMC, FIDR
Provisional Liquidator of Benignant Forte Nigeria Limited
12 December 2022