Daily Independent (Lagos)
Alexandra Mede, Emmanuel Zomiwu and Emeka Umejei
24 August 2009
Abuja/Lagos/Lagos — Former Oceanic Bank Managing Director (MD), Cecilia Ibru, and former Intercontinental Bank (MD), Erastus Akingbola, have been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They were declared wanted on Sunday, after failing to honour invitations for interrogation, sequel to their sack on August 14 along with three other bank MDs.
A statement issued by EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi, explained that Ibru and Akingbola "are wanted in connection with fraudulent abuse of credit process, insider trading, capital market manipulation and money laundering running into billions of Naira. "
He said EFCC Chairman, Farida Waziri, ordered that they be declared wanted because, "apart from failing to honour the Commission 's invitation, intensive search for (them) in the last one week has not been successful. They obviously went into hiding to evade arrest.
"This development has made it imperative for the Commission to solicit information from Nigerians who know their whereabouts.
"In the same vein, it is necessary to warn that anybody who harbours (them) will be treated as an accomplice or accessory to crime. "
Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, at the weekend declined comment on the sacked bank MDs.
Journalists had approached him after he received an award from League of Anambra Professionals (LAP) at Zodiac Hotel in Enugu on Saturday night, but with a wave of the hand, he signalled that he would not speak to the press.
He jumped into his jeep and left in the company of friends and associates.
But former Union Bank Chairman, Kalu U. Kalu, who spoke at the ceremony, warned that recent events should not be allowed to erode the achievements of Soludo in the banking sector.
"By 2006, no Nigerian bank was listed in the international banking sector, but by March 2009, 15 were listed after the consolidation exercise by the CBN under Chukwuma Soludo, " he recounted.
"The banking sector is like a blaring horn. If you blare it too loud, the whole thing will scatter. There will be a crisis of confidence in that sector. The gains of consolidation should not be destroyed. "
The CBN fired both Ibru and Akingbola on August 14 together with three other bank MDs - Sebastian Adigwe (Afribank), Barth Ebong (Union Bank), and Okey Nwosu (Finbank).
It said the five banks breached the rules, among sundry offences, then amassed a debt overhang of N1.1 trillion: much of it given out as loans to cronies without collaterals, as clarified on August 20 by Waziri.
Adigwe, Ebong, and Nwosu are in the custody of the EFCC, as well as over a dozen executives of the subsidiaries of the troubled five banks.
However, Akingbola went to court on August 19 to seek nullification of his sack, and N50 billion in damages. Ibru too has gone to court.
Besides, at the weekend, she described as unfortunate her declaration as being wanted by the EFCC.
A statement issued by her counsel, Akin Olujinmi, argued that Ibru did not receive any invitation from the EFCC to appear for questioning.
He insisted that the declaration is in "extreme bad faith. Ibru is a law abiding citizen of this country and has not committed any offence in respect of which she would be hiding from justice or otherwise turn herself into a fugitive. "
Only the State Security Service (SSS) has invited her, but due to her failing health, she has been unable to attend "and her lawyers wrote communicating this fact to the agency, " Olujinmi said.
"(Ibru) remains prepared and available to respond to any issues that may be raised concerning her activities at Oceanic Bank, but will not succumb to the intimidation and threats of the EFCC and she will do everything within the law to protect her hard earned name and reputation. "
Meanwhile, Humanity Hospital in Effurun, Delta State, has admited treating the 63-year-old Ibru for "severe hypertension and affective disorder. "
In a statement dated August 20, and made available to Daily Independent, the Chief Consultant Physician, E.A. Bazuaye, said Ibru, who had been "a known hypertensive, " was "affected by the recent reform in the banking sector in Nigeria. "
According to Bazuaye, Ibru 's blood pressure "was 220/120 mmHg sitting and she is very apprehensive of her environment. "
However, she was said to have "refused admission into hospital in spite of her state of health and would rather be treated at home.
"In view of her affective disorder, it becomes pertinent to offer this patient domiciliary care at Agbara-Otor. "
An EFCC official disclosed at the weekend that it is not likely that Akingbola has escaped from Nigeria as reported in the media, because, as he put it, the story may have been sold as a dummy to distract security agents on his trail.
His whereabouts are unknown, he reiterated, but "we have operatives at all his houses and are also watching close family members and associates in case he shows up anywhere. "
Babafemi confirmed Waziri has ordered the probe of all internal and external auditors of the five banks, among them Prince Waterhouse Coopers and Akintola Williams Deloitte.
"Waziri gave the directive because of the discovery that the auditors conspired with the bank executives to cook their records and create the impression of a clean bill of health, " he said.
Additional support for the EFCC 's double whammy against corruption has come from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), besides the backing expressed by former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, and Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
But Akeredolu argued on August 17 that Abuja lacks the capacity to fight the battle, a line also repeated in a statement issued at the weekend by ANPP National Publicity Secretary, Emma Eneukwu.
"Commendable as this reluctant resolve of the EFCC to give bite to the anti-corruption crusade, " Eneukwu said, "we make bold to point out that we, as a mass based political party, are not taken in by this culture of selective amnesia being exhibited by the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) government in the anti-graft war.
"The ANPP frowns at the policy of harbouring well known public treasury looters while pretending to be fighting corruption by going after marginal offenders.
"Why should Nigerians or the outside world take the government seriously when Ministers are reported to have deliberately frustrated the prosecution of former Governors who stole their states blind while in office, just because they are not just PDP chieftains, but major shareholders in this party of electoral brigands?
"What is there to cheer when those PDP bigwigs who presided over such honey combs as the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Authority (NMA), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), etc., in the past and looted the places dry, are working the streets as free men today.
"What is there to rejoice about when contracts to repair and reconstruct our bad roads have been awarded that worth several billions of Naira, with tax payers money, some of the projects are not completed, while some are abandoned and private individuals pocketed the money, while thousands of lives and property worth billions of Naira are wasted on road accidents every day because of bad roads. Is probity not part of good governance?
"No serious minded person, institution or government could be taken seriously in an anti-corruption crusade when the biggest culprits in the society are honoured with juicy appointments and treated like sacred cows. "
Ibru 's lawsuit was filed last Thursday by her counsel, Ajibola Oluyede, and she wants the court to declare her sack null and void, claiming it breached Sections 33 and 35 of Banks and other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), which the CBN relied upon to get rid of her.
She said she was not given the opportunity to defend herself against allegations levelled against her, neither was she informed of the special examination of the books of Oceanic Bank.
Oluyede had earlier issued a statement where he described the CBN 's action as "sheer daylight robbery. "
He alleged that Ibru and Oceanic are been punished for their "support for the domestic economy and political stability " and sought to know why and how the CBN arrived at its decisions against the five banks.
Ibru has also petitioned President Umaru Yar 'Adua faulting the CBN 's reason that it took takeover Oceanic because the CBN had to guarantee interbank deposits, which is a sign that the system was under threat.
"This is clearly a fallacy, " she insisted.
"On the contrary, a robust interbank system with free flow of fund between banks with shortfall and those with surplus is a crucial part of a healthy banking system.
"In times of disruption like those that happened in the situations set out above, the market dries up because banks are unable to measure risk. Part of the role of the CBN in such times is to aid market rejuvenation.
"This is what guaranteeing interbank deposits do. This is exactly what the Bank of England did recently without harm to the system. In fact, it is partly responsible for the return of the system to profitability. "
Ibru added that as at December last year, the accounts of Oceanic audited by Price Waterhouse Coopers, and approved by the CBN a few weeks ago, showed that even after Oceanic provided over N42 billion for assets the CBN decided were bad, profit after tax still leapt over N8.1 billion.
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