The Senate Monday opened investigation into alleged shady deals in the management of the assets of liquidated Oceanic Bank Plc.
The probe by the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption followed a petition which claimed some unwholesome dealings in the management of forfeited assets of Oceanic Bank Pls.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Victor Lar, shielded the identities of the petitioners from the press apparently for security reasons.
The petitioners alleged that Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) sold some of the forfeited properties of Oceanic Bank without due process.
The petitioners specifically claimed that some of the forfeited properties were sold by AMCON without advertising them.
They also claimed that some of the forfeited properties cannot be traced while aircraft and United Kingdom properties allegedly owned by Mrs. Cecilia Ibru were not listed.
The petitioners claimed that Mrs. Ibru had converted some of the forfeited properties back to own through the back door.
The petitioners claimed that while Mrs. Ibru was successfully prosecuted and plea bargain was reached to forfeit some assets, the handling of the plea bargain was full of anomalies.
They claimed that the handover of assets and shares by Cecilia Ibru to AMCON and transfer of the shareholders to ECO bank never took place.
The petitioners claimed that due to poor administration of recovery and implementation of the plea bargain note, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru still controls most of the assets and shares recovered under the plea bargain.
They claimed that Mrs. Ibru converted Oceanic Bank details with assets and cash of over 15 million pounds for her personal use.
They also claimed that Mrs. Cecilia Ibru changed the name Oceanic Bank in UK to Premier European Capital transferring all Oceanic Bank assets and cash to the new company without the knowledge of the previous shareholders and directors of Oceanic Bank.
Other allegations included that Cecilia Ibru opened a Trust Fund and converted properties recovered from Cecilia Ibru to the Trust Fund.
They listed the number of properties owned by the liquidated bank to include-USA properties numbering about 11, Nigeria 51, Dubai-4, South Africa, one property.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Audu, who was the first to speak at the investigative hearing, noted that Mrs. Ibru’s investigation was conclusively done and there was a plea bargain between the Federal Government and Mrs. Cecilia Ibru.
Audu said that there was a court order which directed AMCON to manage all the confiscated properties.
He added that all properties recovered from Mrs. Ibru had been handed over to AMCON according to the court order.
Acting Managing Director of AMCON, Mrs. Foluke Dosunmu, in her testimony said that EFCC did not recover any property from Mrs. Ibru.
She said that all the properties were forfeited which made ownership to pass to AMCON.
Dosunmu said, “The assets of Cecilia Ibru were forfeited to AMCON; the interest in those assets were vested and ownership were passed to AMCON.
“N150billionn was the first set of funds in respect to non-performing loans paid back to Oceanic Bank with consideration to the underlying collateral.
“Second set of payment to Oceanic bank was N336billion of depositors’ funds that had been eroded.
“The primary motive of AMCON was that no depositor will lose his funds.”
The AMCON boss noted that on the 5th of Sept 2010 Mrs. Ibru entered into a plea bargain with the Attorney General for the value of certain specified properties and funds illegally acquired.
She said that an order forfeiting the properties of Mrs. Ibru was made by an FCT High Court.
She said that AMCON was no party to the plea bargain between Mrs. Ibru and the Attorney General of the Federation.
She said that AMCON paid Oceanic bank N83 billion for assets listed in schedule four.
Dosunmu noted that only N67 billion was received from Oceanic bank in assets by AMCON wile N15.7 billion was lost.
She said that after parting with all sets of funds, AMCON assumed full ownership of the properties and does not owe anything to Oceanic Bank.
She said that the assets have been verified; they are either in the custody of AMCON or have been sold.
“In terms of the liquidation of the assets in question, we are not liable to render these accounts to Oceanic or Eco Bank,” she said.
On the issue of aircraft which the petitioners claimed was part of the plea bargain, Dosunmu said that AMCON did not receive airplane or cash from Oceanic Bank as being publicly peddled.
She also said that that in terms of evidence of sale of properties, AMCON has a list of assets it sold out of those forfeited.
Dosunmu said that recovery of shareholders’ fund was not part of AMCONs responsibility.
She insisted that “EFCC did not recover any properties from Mrs. Ibru but the properties were vested in AMCON as a result of the plea bargain and subsequent forfeiture.”
She said that a total of N570 billion was invested in Oceanic Bank while a total amount still owed AMCON is 16.1billion excluding the interest accruable between January 2011 and date.
The AMCON boss said that all the forfeited assets not yet sold are currently being managed to get them to the appropriate value in order to sell them.
Dosunmu said that AMCON will provide the list of all properties to the committee.
On how to recoup the funds provided to Oceanic Bank, Dosunmu said that AMCON provided N2.7 trillion from all interventions to other banks which will be recouped from the sinking fund.
She added that on an annual basis there are contributions to the trust fund and within 15 years, the total cost of the financial accommodation will be recouped.
“This was done between the finance ministry and the CBN. The fund is not limited to Oceanic Bank but to all other banks to save tax payers the stress,” she explained.
On why Mrs. Ibru has not paid the outstanding N16 billion she said “If we see that there is unwillingness to pay the 16.1bn owed AMCON, then the law will take its course because it was a plea bargain between Cecilia Ibru and the Attorney General. Demand has been placed on Mrs. Ibru to step up the game.”
On alleged untraceable properties she said, “The plea bargain is between Mrs. Cecilia Ibru and the Office of the Attorney General and no matter who the Attorney General was, the matter still remains between the office of the Attorney General and Mrs. Ibru.”
She also clarified that the assets forfeited was what was brought to AMCON but whether the properties amounted to all the properties owned by Mrs. Ibru was not exactly the business of AMCON.”
Chairman of the Committee, Victor Lar said that it will be criminal for the same person who forfeited properties to still reacquire the properties through the back door.
He said, “We want to know the process of disposal of these properties; did you follow due process; did you advertise the process?
“This is because the petitioners are alleging that the same person who forfeited the properties has bought back the properties. Tell us who bought these properties. The process has to be seen to be transparent.”
The AMCON boss said that they will submit their process of sales to the Senate if so demanded.
She added that “Every sale is approved by a board.”
She said “As far as we know, there is no asset that has been reacquired by Mrs. Ibru. The assets were bidded for and the buyers were verified. Each buyers declared to the EFCC their source of funds.”
Lar insisted that the committee would want to know if the sales were advertised or it was a secret selection of bidders.
The Central Bank of Nigeria Deputy Governor, Joseph Okwu Nnanna, told the committee that when they received the Senate invitation, they were completely at a loss.
He said that CBN role ended immediately the bank was liquidated.
He said, “We don’t over see sales. We deal with living banks.”
