First Modular Gas Systems Ltd v Citibank Europe PLC and Ors - Approved - 2024 IEHC 1 - 12 January 2024
Country
Year
2024
Summary
Introduction
1. In this application, the Plaintiff ("First Modular") seeks an injunction to prevent payment of US$1,650,000 to the second Defendant ("Bosai") on foot of a letter of credit issued by the third Defendant in February 2022 with the first Defendant as the confirming Bank. Briefly, First Modular, a Nigerian company, entered a contract with a third party, Ennovate Consultants Incorporated ("Ennovate"), a Canadian company, for the supply and installation of a gas plant in Nigeria. Bosai, a Chinese company, was subcontracted by Ennovate to supply the gas plant. First Modular provided a letter of credit ("the Letter of Credit") in favour of the second Defendant, pursuant to which the first Defendant ("Citibank") and the third Defendant ("Access") were obliged to pay sums claimed by Bosai upon the satisfaction by Bosai of the terms of the Letter of Credit. Access and Citibank were persuaded that Bosai had satisfied those terms when Bosai presented the required documentation to establish that it had shipped the goods required to Nigeria. The documentation included a bill of lading from Astline International Transport Co. Ltd ("Astline"). First Modular alleges that the claim for payment by Bosai is a sham and that Bosai did not dispatch the goods required at all. Inherent in that claim is an allegation that some or all of the documentation relied on by Bosai is not genuine.
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