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The Senate yesterday opened an investigation into the 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 alleged unwholesome dealings in the management of forfeited assets of the lender.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Victor Lar, shielded the identities of the petitioners from the press apparently for security reasons.
The petitioners alleged that the Asset 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 an 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 her 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 Mrs. 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. 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 the former chief executive officer of the lender changed the name Oceanic Bank in UK to Premier European Capital transferring all Oceanic Bank’s assets and cash to the new company without the knowledge of the previous shareholders and directors of Oceanic Bank.
Other allegations included that Mrs. 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-United States (US) properties numbering about 11, Nigeria 51, Dubai-four, South Africa, one property.
Mr. Ibrahim Audu of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who was the first to speak at the hearing, noted that Mrs. Ibru’s investigation was conclusively done and that there was a plea bargain between the Federal Government and Mrs. Ibru.
He said there was a court order which directed AMCON to manage all the confiscated properties, adding that all properties recovered from Mrs. Ibru had been handed over to AMCON according to the court order.
Acting Managing Director, AMCON, Mrs. Foluke Dosunmu, in her testimony said that EFCC did not recover any property from Mrs. Ibru.
She said all the properties were forfeited which made their ownership to be transferred 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.
“N150billion 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 funds.”
The AMCON boss recalled that on September 5, 2010 Mrs. Ibru entered into a plea bargain with the Attorney-General of the Federation for the value of certain specified properties and funds illegally acquired.
She said an order forfeiting the properties of Mrs.Ibru was made by an FCT High Court.
She said AMCON was no party to the plea bargain between Mrs. Ibru and the Attorney- General of the Federation.
She said 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 after parting with all the funds, AMCON assumed full ownership of the properties and does not owe Oceanic Bank anything.
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