EFCC investigating Skye Bank directors —NDIC

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has commenced investigation of directors of the defunct Skye Bank with a view to prosecute them.

This is according to the Managing Director of Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim.

Recall that the CBN had last week Friday revoked the operating license of Skye Bank Plc, and appointed a bridge bank – Polaris Bank – to assume all the assets and liabilities of the defunct bank following the failure of its shareholders to recapitalise the bank.

Under the new arrangement, the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) will inject a sum of N786 billion into the bank to bring the total net asset to zero. This, according to Emefiele, will stabilise the bank and return it to the path of profitability for the purpose of selling it to interested investors.

Speaking on the sidelines of the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Africa Regional Committee workshop in Lagos on Wednesday, Ibrahim said the directors are being investigated for their role in the erosion of the bank’s assets value.

“They are being investigated and I can assure you that when the time comes the necessary security agencies will do their work”, he said.

Read also: Why we couldn’t retain Skye Bank’s name – Emefiele

Dismissing speculations about the status of Polaris Bank as a duly registered entity, Ibrahim said: “Polaris Bank is a fully-fledged bank.

“If you have money there, you can go and test, you can always get your money, you can always enjoy banking service. Polaris Bank is no longer a bridge bank, it is a fully-fledged bank that has been issued a banking license by the CBN. And it is largely owned by Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), since AMCON is the new investor.

“AMCON will manage it through the management that has been asked to continue with the good job it is doing. AMCON will do that and then sell it,” he said.

On July 4, 2016, the CBN intervened in Skye Bank to salvage depositors’ funds and to ensure the sustainability of the bank after a forensic audit revealed that the company had recorded negative capital due to poor corporate governance.

Emefiele, while fielding questions at the end of the Monetary Policy Meeting on Tuesday, had said the CBN compelled both the entire board and the executive management to resign during its intervention in 2016.

Before the exit of the board and management of the bank, the Chairman of the Board, Tunde Ayeni, had been enmeshed in strong allegations of using his position to secure loans from the bank to invest in two power companies in Ibadan and Yola Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).

Skye Bank had said it detected massive losses and infractions while conducting the audit. It noted that the bank’s total exposure to Ayeni as of the date was about N70 billion. The forensic audit also indicted all former Group Manading Directors of the bank including Akinsola Akinfewa, Kehinde Durosinmi-Etti and Timothy Oguntayo.

 

 

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