Mr. Millipede always wonders why in spite of his countless legs he remains the slowest of creatures; and indeed, modern society would have found itself in such a quandary if a ‘Principal’ could not delegate duties to his ‘Agent’ nor a ‘Master’ to his ‘Servant’. Happily, the law recognizes that a person (an ‘Agent’) who performs a duty in the service of another (his ‘Principal’), brings that other into a legal relationship with a third party by that means.
The Latin maxim ‘Qui facit per alium, facit per se’ (‘what a person does by another person, he does by himself’) is operative in the Law of Contract (Agency) as well as the Law of Torts. Delegation of duties is very vital in all spheres of human endeavour. A contract entered into by an Agent on behalf of his Principal can legally be enforced by that Principal against a third party to his own gain and, naturally, where there is a RIGHT there is a corresponding OBLIGATION.
Mr. Kay was twenty-seven years old. He was a suave bachelor who worked as a Marketing Officer in Zee International Bank Plc. Because he was naturally a ‘man-about-town’, Mr. Kay was not doing badly at all on his job. He was a tenant in Chief UB’s house – occupying a two-bedroom apartment – and had a very good rapport with his landlord, as he had with almost everyone who knew him in Fortune Town. Mr. Kay knew about the multi-million Naira contract for the construction of some classroom blocks which his landlord had executed for the State government some years back, and for which the government was still owing the man N8.8 million out of the contract sum. When the present Administration was sworn in and Chief UB’s Party secured the majority seats in the House of Assembly, fortune smiled on Chief UB and the government of the day paid him his N8.8 million in full.
Smooth-talking Mr. Kay was a man who would always recognize an opportunity whenever it presented itself. As soon as he got wind of the news that Chief UB had come to big money, he quickly latched onto the man, giving him a thousand-and-one reasons why he must lodge every kobo of that money in a Fixed Deposit Account in Zee International Bank Plc.
‘You have to lodge this money, sir, in a Fixed Deposit… And it has to be our Bank,’ Mr. Kay pressed on. ‘Chief, sir, I’ve enumerated the reasons why it has to be in Zee International Bank and no other. My claims are verifiable, so feel free to make enquiries. Ours is the most reliable Bank within the shores of this country. Take my advice, sir, and fix this money of yours in our bank for a period of one year – or even six months – and you’ll be hugely surprised by the amount of interest you’ll make at the end of the period. If you doubt me, sir, I’ll work it out right away for you to see…’
As a marketer, Mr. Kay could indeed sell water to Mummy-water! Chief UB was not able to resist his persuasiveness – the verbal and written demonstrations of what he termed the ‘awesome benefits of Fixed Deposits’. So, he was convinced to lodge every kobo of his N8.8 million in a Fixed Deposit account in Zee International Bank Plc where Mr. Kay worked as marketer. The following morning when he went to the bank to make the lodgement, Mr. Kay was practically at the entrance of the bank to receive him.
‘I’ve been assigned to you, sir, as your Account Officer,’ Mr. Kay explained to Chief UB as he led the man into the bulk room of the bank for the cashier to receive his cash. Thereafter, he gave Chief UB a seat in front of his own desk at the banking hall, making the older man feel like royalty as he went fussing over him –personally bringing to him all the requisite forms, and politely guiding him on how to complete each one of them.
Armed with the special Deposit Slip evidencing the fact that he had lodged the sum of N8.8 million as a Fixed Deposit for a period of six months in Zee International Bank Plc, Chief UB tipped Mr. Kay handsomely and then left for home…
Two weeks later, Mr. Kay went to work and did not return to his flat at the end of the day. Throughout the following day, too, nothing at all was seen of him, and his cell phone line was switched off. Three days later, two police inspectors, accompanied by the Branch Manager of Zee International Bank Plc, stormed Chief UB’s house with a Search Warrant to comb the apartment of Mr. Kay whom they said was wanted for the crime of Fraud against his employer, Zee International Bank Plc.
Chief UB was stunned. He was all the more befuddled when upon the police breaking into Mr. Kay’s apartment, it was discovered that, apart from the young man’s bed and chairs, he had secretly cleared out all his valuables from the apartment… By the end of that week, the rumour became rife that the smooth fellow had zoomed to the Netherlands with the N8 million he had allegedly stolen from his employer.
Chief UB’s astonishment was great. But he was to receive the real big shocker when six months after he had created his Fixed Deposit Account, he went to the bank to request for his money only to be told by the Bank Manager:
‘The amount that was fixed for you in that account, sir, was N800,000 and not the N8.8 million that is written in that document you have there with you… Please, sir, calm down. We have issues with that account, and the police is even in the matter. Your Account Officer, Mr. Kay, absconded… And he was even your “friend” and ex-tenant, sir…’
Chief UB could not believe his ears and he demanded to know whether the Bank Manager was joking. But alas! It was no joke at all because the matter ultimately landed them in court. In that Suit before Fortune Town High Court of Justice, Chief UB was CLAIMANT while Zee International Bank Plc. entered Appearance as DEFENDANT.
In his argument, Counsel for the Defendant Bank made heavy weather of the fact that the suspect in question, Mr. Kay, had been a tenant of the Claimant’s. But Court jettisoned that argument in the face of the fact that Defendant could not in any way link the Claimant with Mr. Kay’s crime. The Court held that as a Marketing Officer for the Defendant, the absconded and fraudulent Mr. Kay was its Agent and had acted wholly in the course of his duty when he convinced the Claimant to lodge his money with the Defendant Bank. Whatever the Agent did later with the money after its lodgement was his Principal’s business, and must be dealt with by the same Principal and no other…
Therefore, judgment in the case was given in favour of Claimant, Chief UB, with the Defendant Bank being ordered by court to credit him forthwith with his full Deposit of N8.8 million and interests computed accordingly.
