A FORMER First Bank of Nigeria manager, Ms Adesuwa Ezenwa, has accused the ex-Chairman of the bank, Mr Oba Otudeko, of granting loans to companies linked to him.
Ms Ezenwa revealed this at the National Industrial Court (NIC), Lagos division, where she had gone to seek redress over an unfair dismissal by First Bank under Mr Otudeko, The Cable reported.
She said at some point, some “unsecured facilities” worth about N12 billion were granted to a company in which Oba Otudeko had substantial investment.
She said, “The loan was camouflaged as loans granted to the Stallion Group of Companies, which at a point in time discovered this false entry in its statement of account and protested same.”
In another occasion, an unsecured facility of N2 billion was granted in 2012 to Broadwaters Resources Company Nigeria Ltd, which she claimed was a “mere conduit pipe employed by Majekodunmi and Onasanya for siphoning monies from the bank.”
She said out of the N12 billion camouflaged as lending to the Stallion Group, N8.21 billion was transferred “through various accounts to a final destination account belonging to a company known as V TECH LTD which belongs to the Chairman of FBN Holdings, Oba Otudeko while the sum of N4.45 Billion out of the same fictitious facility was transferred to Ontario Oil and Gas. The facility remains unpaid to date.”
She claimed that these were not the only acts of malfeasance by the top management of the bank, noting that several other transactions were undertaken by other top management staff for which she was punished.
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“Apart from funds camouflaged as loans granted to the Stallion Groups, similar loans were granted over the years by Mr. Olatunji (the Branch Manager) and Mrs. Cecilia Majekodumi to other customers of the Bank amongst which are SUPPLIES AND SERVICES LTD. Supplies and Services Ltd is a subsidiary of ROYAL CERAMICS GROUP OF COMPANIES and several loan approvals were initiated and authored by Mr. Olatunji and Mrs. Majekodunmi,” the document from Ms Ezenwa said.
She further claimed that the facilities granted to Supplies and Services Ltd was subsequently “sublent and disbursed in smaller bits to several customers on more profitable terms to both officers and these customers include Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc, Netconstruct Nigeria Ltd, Orbit Cargo, High Performance Distributions Ltd etc.”
The ex-manager claimed that some of the transactions undertaken by the bank were already being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ms Ezenwa said the board of the bank was complicit, noting that the loans “were above the limits of the executive directors, vice-president and managing director of the bank.”
Mr Otudeko was contacted over the allegations but had not responded as at press time.
Otudeko vs First Bank
Mr Otudeko is currently fighting an ownership battle with First Bank. The contention is about who owns the largest share in First Bank. Barbican Capital, owned by Mr Otudeko, claims that it is the largest shareholder with 15.01 percent stake in the bank, while alleging that the current Chairman, Mr Femi Otedola, owns only a 9.41 percent share. Barbican Capital claims that its 5.38 billion units of shares in the bank have been altered by Nigeria’s oldest bank. First Bank, however, disagrees, arguing that Barbican cannot provide evidence of some of the shares it claims to own.
First Bank argues that Barbican is concealing the fact of an ongoing verification exercise by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of its alleged significant shareholdings. It noted that only 3.110 billion shares (representing 8.67 percent of Barbican’s total shares) of Barbican Capital’s total shares could be verified by the CBN, while its alleged 2.34 billion shares (representing 6.52 percent) could not be verified.
