The Accra Fast Track High Court (Commercial Division) has ordered the Assets and Recovery Unit of the National Investment Bank (NIB) and its agents to stop confiscating the assets and properties of some local contractors who are indebted to the bank to the tune of US$26 million. The court, presided over by Mr Justice Peter Dei Ofei, upheld the relief sought by the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) and ordered officials of the NIB to halt the planned confiscation and return all seized equipment to the contractors. The court held the view that the pieces of equipment were acquired by the government and not the NIB and so the NIB had no right over them. Rather, the court ordered the bank to renegotiate the payment terms and release the equipment to the contractors to enable them to work and pay at a later date. The management of the bank had since 2008 contracted the services of the Assets Recovery Task Force of Unique Trust to chase and confiscate the assets and working equipment of the contractors to defray their indebtedness to the bank. The government, in 2004, acquired some heavy equipment from Volvo International, worth US$26 million, for the local contractors with a guarantee from NIB. The contractors have since defaulted due to the nonpayment of arrears due them by the government while the NIB would not renegotiate payment terms with the defaulting contractors. The debt overhang and the inability of the contractors to retire those debts compelled the management of NIB to take action to confiscate the assets of the contractors to defray the debt, but ASROC sought an injunction at an Accra Fast Track High Court, Commercial Division to restrain the bank from doing so.