The Federal Capital Territory High Court has ordered the First City Monument Bank, FCMB, to pay N540.5 million in damages to a pastor, Emmanuel Omale, of the Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry and his wife, Deborah, over false claim that they laundered N573 million for former chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

Delivering judgement in the suit, Yusuf Halilu, the judge, held that the bank breached its duty of care to the claimants, the Omales and their church.

The judge held that the evidence before the court showed that the bank admitted error in its report to the National Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, of entries in the account of Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry which was accused of laundering money on Mr. Magu’s behalf.

Halilu also said the bank claimed that the purported N573 million was wrongly reflected as credit entry in Divine Hand of God Prophetic Ministry’s account by its reporting system, which it recently upgraded.

The judge held that FCMB admitted the error, which brought incalculable damage to the reputation of the claimants both within and outside the Nigeria – depleting their church’s membership.

Halilu said the claimants provided sufficient evidence to establish case of negligence against FCMB.

Consequently, the judge awarded N200 million as aggravated damages; N140.5 million as specific damages and N200 million as general damages.