This Day (Lagos)
Yemi Akinsuyi
3 November 2009
Abuja — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has so far recovered N171,045,670,248 from the eight banks whose management teams were sacked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The commission's spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, in a chat with newsmen in Abuja yesterday, said the amount was the total debt recovered so far since CBN saddled the anti-graft agency with the recovery of the debts.
He said in order to monitor the activities of the debtors and the recently sacked chief executive officers (CEOs) of these troubled banks, the EFCC's ban on their travelling abroad is still in force.
The CBN had initially sacked the management teams of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Oceanic International Bank Plc, Finbank Plc and Afribank Plc and replaced them with new management teams, while in announcing the result of the audit of another 14 banks, sacked the chief executives of three banks; namely Bank PHB, Equitorial Trust Bank and Spring Bank.
The apex bank had published the list of banks debtors with the amount they owe and mandated the anti-graft commission to recover the debts.
On two occasions, the EFCC's Chairman, Mrs. Farida Waziri, had led operatives from its Abuja office to Lagos, to recover the debts.
The commission was able to recover about N100 billion from debtors of the first five banks, while the CEOs of these banks were arrested, detained, and later arraigned in court.
The second phase of the recoveries included five banks - FinBank Plc, BankPHB, Unity Bank, Wema Bank Plc, and Equitorial Trust Bank (ETB) Plc.
So far, the commission has been able to recover N59,230,000,000.00 billion from debtors of Intercontinental Bank Plc; N35,489,000,000 from debtors of Oceanic International Bank; N33,385,166,949.20 from Afribank debtors; and N30,422,996,448.39 from Union Bank debtors respectively, Babafemi said.
Others are FinBank Plc, N10,745,170,462.34; BankPHB, N1, 210,600,441,63 billion; and Spring Bank Plc with N57,735,947.21.
Babafemi said: "That the commission has gone this far is a pointer to the fact that more would come. The chairman met with all sectional heads of the commission to review some of the successes so far and urged the sectional heads to be more committed. We are likely to zsee some drastic action in the coming weeks."
Speaking on the debtors who are yet to pay, Babafemi said some of the debtors who did not have money to pay, had resorted to submitting their personal effects to the agency pending the time they would have money to pay their debts.
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