Ibru’s forfeited assets tear shareholders, CBN apart

      There is growing fears that the funds and assets voluntarily forfeited by the former Managing Director of Oceanic Bank, Mrs Cecilia Ibru, through plea bargaining with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), estimated at N191.48 billion, would further plunge the nation’s fragile banking into crisis.
    This follows a strong opposition from strategic shareholders of Oceanic Bank, who are warning the EFCC and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stay off the funds, warning that
the yet to take off Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has no business with the recovered funds.
It will be recalled that a high court presided over by Justice Dan Abutu in Lagos on Friday, found Mrs. Ibru guilty on a three-count charge of giving loans beyond her credit limits, giving wrong accounts and giving out loans of N20 billion without due process and subsequently jailed her for 18 months.
       Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Lagos, at the weekend, Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Mr. Boniface Okezie, noted that since the money was looted from Oceanic Bank, it was only ideal and proper that the recovered funds be returned to the bank’s purse, warning that they would resist any move to put the funds at the disposal of AMCON.
Okezie, who hailed the judgment, explained that his association had never been against the trial of the bank chiefs, stating that it only raised issues over the way they were removed from office, which brought about the current crisis in the industry.
    “We have nothing against the judgment. Our stand is that this money must not go to AMCON which has not even commenced operations. The money belongs to Oceanic Bank shareholders and depositors. We will resist any move to deploy it to any other use,” he stated.
He observed that the apex bank would still have obtained the same result if it had invited the bank chiefs and told them to return the looted funds or face prosecution, adding that it would still take time for the industry to recover from the current needless crisis.
On whether the other bank chiefs facing prosecution in the various courts should enter into plea bargain, Okezie said it depended on the charges against them in the courts, stressing that if it had to do with illegal wealth acquisition, it was okay as such recovered funds would help the recapitalisation process of the affected banks.
        Also reacting, a legal practitioner and shareholder of Oceanic Bank, Mr Tolu Ogunbote, said he would head for court if the recovered funds was given to AMCON, stressing that if government and the relevant agencies could not fund AMCON, they should jettison it.
He recalled that monies recovered by the EFCC in the past were always returned to the affected banks, wondering why this should be different.
In apparent clarifications, CBN’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mohammed Abdullahi, said the funds would eventually go to Oceanic Bank
    Abdullahi in a statement indicated that, “according to the order of the court, the assets are forfeited to Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), which was set up to assist the recapitalisation of the CBN intervened banks.  With this, it is clear that Oceanic Bank will soon be in the position to return to the CBN the N100billion injected into the bank and also get adequately recapitalised and thus survive the banking crisis.”