Barclays Bank sues Zambezi Airlines

BARCLAYS  Bank  Zambia Plc has sued Zambezi Airlines Limited for breach of agreement and failure to settle a bill incurred for services rendered to the airline’s customers during the course of its operations. In a statement of claim filed in the High Court, the bank claimed that Zambezi Airlines had entered into an agreement (Merchant Agreement) where the defendant agreed to use the plaintiff’s Point Of Sale (POS) services to effect card payments to their clients. “The aforesaid POS transactions have accordingly been unpaid by the issuers of the cards alleged to have been used for as the alleged flight services were not provided to the bona fide holders of the cards in issue but to the airline, which has refused to attend to it,” the plaintiffs said. In April 2009 to October 2011 the plaintiff started effecting payments using the banks services to the defendant’s customers and incurred a bill of US$7438.59 in breach of the merchant agreement as it was supposed to be paid immediately. The plaintiff had effected demand for the sum of $7438.59 in line with the agreement but the defendant has refused, failed or neglected to pay or settle its indebtedness. The bank stated that it had suffered losses and damages due to the failure by the defendants to settle the said debt. “ As a consequence of the aforesaid POS transactions being unpaid for some time now by the issuers of cards alleged to have been used for flight services provided by the bank, it has suffered loss and is now demanding for the said monies to be paid in full with interest at current banking rate,” the plaintiff said. The plaintiffs are also demanding for any relief that the court might deem fit.