Diezani’s 23bn Oil Money Scam: Fidelity Bank’s Mess Gets Messier!
…How Maurice Iwu, ex-INEC boss allegedly got N5bn
…EFCC probes ex-Governor’s alleged link with bank
…CBN sanctioned bank in 2015, may hammer bank again
As reported in The New Diplomat fresh revelations have emerged that
the crisis wracking Fidelity Bank Plc is getting messier as detained
Managing Director of the Bank, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, who is currently
cooling off his feet in one of the cells of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission(EFCC) has allegedly spilled the beans.
The new Diplomat learnt that
he has revealed, among others, the role of a former Anambra State
Governor in the whole mess that has now engulfed the bank over the
receipt of N23.3billion from Diezani by Okonkwo allegedly for
disbursement to officials of the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta states.
Sources within the EFCC told The New Diplomat that
Mr Okonkwo who has been cooperating with investigators allegedly told
investigators that he was merely carrying out instructions from above,
especially from the former governor who was equally quite close to
former petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs Alison Maduekwe.
Said a top EFCC source: “The MD has
been cooperating with investigators. We have been able to obtain
substantial information and investigations continue. All those named
would be nabbed. We have been able to establish how Prof Maurice Iwu’s
NGO got N5billion from the slush fund of N23 billion which Diezani got
the oil companies to give to the MD for disbursement to INEC officials
in Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Rivers. Investigations are also ongoing on how
the ex-governor allegedly facilitated part of the deal. Some of these
people would be charged to court and put on trial …’’
Sources revealed that only last
December, the former governor’s firm made a whopping deposit of
N4.9billion in Fidelity Bank PLc in a dramatic move to help boost the
standing of the bank. An insider who pleaded anonymity told The New Diplomat’s Economic Intelligence Desk to shield the whole deal. It was clouted in ethnic dimension as’’ the
MD hails from the same South-East as the Chairman of the Bank, Mr
Christopher Eze as well as Prof. Iwu and the ex-governor.’’
EFCC operatives are said to be
closing in on Iwu as he has gone underground since his name was
mentioned. According to information pieced together by The New Diplomat,
“Iwu, who is currently holed up in a nearby country may have gotten
wind of the fact that the EFCC was looking for him and vanished from
public glare. Several calls to his mobile phone indicated that it was
switched off.
But many experts are calling for
tough sanctions against the Bank, stressing that the bank should be made
to face the music. Dr Remi Akindayo, of Centre for Development and Good
Governance(CDGG) a Canada-based NGO, said Fidelity should be made to
face the same music which Chief Ebitimi Banigo’s bank was made to face
following revelations of how it got itself enmeshed in money-laundering
deals and alleged diversion of N1.12 billion Ecological fund by former
Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye.
The infractions which angered the
CBN during the Obasanjo administration led to the fall of the bank as
its operational licence was revoked by the regulatory institution.
Information reaching The New Diplomat Economic
Intelligence Desk indicate that the CBN is currently weighing various
options, including wielding the big stick against the bank.
Culled: newdiplomat.ng
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