The National Industrial Court, Abuja, on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of Madaki Mohammed, an ex- manager of Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc, Abuja over gross misconduct,-as lawful.
Mohammed, according to the defence counsel, Michael Okorie was dismissed for gross misconduct that ranged from unauthorised cash withdrawal, to suppression of cheques paid into staff account and granting of unauthorised overdraft facilities to customers.
In her judgment, Justice Rakiya Haastrup, said “the claimant challenged his dismissal as unlawful on the ground that the defendant cannot predicate his dismissal over his failure to notice a fraud on a customer’s account.
“An incident that happened according to him eight years earlier which he was reprimanded”, she said.
Haastrup however said “contrary to the submission of the claimant that he was dismissed after eight years of the occurrence of the issue of negligence against him.
” Exhibits before the court relied upon in this case are all document in relation to gross misconduct, fraudulent cash withdrawal, letter of reprimand, reply on suppression of cheques, query and reply on unauthorised overdraft facility to a customer.
” These were all chain of events that occurred on different dates that eventually led to the claimant’s dismissal”, she said.
The judge also said evidence before the court proved that the claimant was the one that breached the terms of his contract.
She said there was no evidence before the court brought by the claimant sufficient to support his claim of unlawful dismissal.
Haastrup said ” having held that the dismissal in this case is justified, the alternative relief of converting dismissal to termination cannot be granted”.
The judge said that all the reliefs sought by the claimant in the suit all failed in its entirety and accordingly dismissed the suit.
The claimant’s counsel, Abdullahi Liman, had urged the court to declare his client’s dismissal as unlawful.
Liman also sought for an order for reinstatement of the claimant and payment of his salaries and allowances from the time of his dismissal in 2012 until judgment.
The counsel said in the alternative, an order converting the dismissal of his client to termination of employment and full payment of all his terminal benefits.
Liman also sought payment of general damages to the tune of N10 million for his client which was equally denied.
