Abuja — Spring Bank Plc has cleared Alhaji Sani Dangote among those indebted to it, saying his name was erroneously listed among those published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

When the names of bad debtors of Bank PHB, Unity Bank, Wema Bank, Equitorial Trust Bank Plc and Spring Bank Plc issued by the CBN were published on October 15, Dangote complained, saying he did not owe Spring Bank or any other bank.

This was confirmed by the letter of apology written to him yesterday by the Spring Bank. The letter was signed the bank's Group Executive, Credit Risk Management Emma Akaduh and its Regional Head, Lagos Island Josh Ikioda.

A source in CBN said the letter must be genuine and that there were discussions along that line.

The Spring Bank letter dated October 23 was addressed to the Chairman of the Continental Cement Company Limited, with attention to Alhaji Sani Dangote.

The letter was titled: "Erroneous Publication of Alhaji Sani Dangote as a Director of Continental Cement Company Limited."

The letter read: "We refer to the above matter and hereby tender our unreserved apologies to you on the inadvertent publication of your name as a Director of our customer, Continental Cement Company Limited. "We have since confirmed that you are not in the official documents of the company at the Corporate Affairs Commission as a Director of the company and that the information was also not provided by the customer.

"We have since taken steps to notify the Central Bank of Nigeria that your name was inadvertently linked with the customer. "We state that this was an unfortunate mix-up, without any intention of maligning you or Continental Cement Company Limited or causing any embarrassment to you or to Continental Cement Company Limited. "We thank you for your kind understanding, while assuring you that this will never happen again."