Zenith Carex International Limited, a leading logistics and courier services company based in Nigeria, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Chemonics International, Inc., a global development firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $15,000,000 and a retraction of defamatory statements made by Chemonics.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleged that the firm published false and defamatory statements about Zenith Carex, accusing the company of fraud and inflated invoicing.
These statements were disseminated through a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and further amplified by online publications, causing significant reputational and financial harm to Zenith Carex.
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The firm said: “Zenith Carex asserts that the defamatory statements were made with malice and reckless disregard for the truth.
The company has consistently provided exemplary logistics services for international aid programmes, including those funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Global Fund.
“Despite a comprehensive investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria, which found no evidence of fraud, and an arbitration which Chemonics settled for lack of evidence, Chemonics continued to propagate false allegations against Zenith Carex.