The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC], has exonerated a new generation bank, Heritage Bank, saying it is not under any form of investigations following accusations of fraud.
The anti-graft
agency was reacting to stories that the bank was under an investigation
into dealings arising from a bank account managed by the Oyo State
Government and domiciled with Heritage Bank.
The EFCC says there has been no links to the bank and its Managing Director, Ifie Sekibo, in the widely spread allegations.
When
the story came out, the bank had firmly denied reports suggesting that
the bank and its Managing Director have refused to cooperate with the
EFCC’s investigation, including ignoring a series of invitations by the
commission because of possible personal ties to the state government.
Media
reports had claimed that the EFCC invited Sekibo because of an alleged
role in the alleged diversion of ₦13 billion belonging to the Oyo State
Government.
According to the reports,
the said monies were lodged in secret accounts with the bank in
connivance with some top state government officials.
However,
the Oyo State Government had come out to say it had no knowledge of the
said allegation, with the State Finance and Information Commissioners
stating that they were unaware of any such incident or issues with their
bank accounts and malfeasance
Heritage
Bank had also maintained that the investigation was just restricted to
the account that is the subject of the EFCC inquiry.
The
bank insisted that the account was part of a raft of accounts inherited
as part of its acquisition of Enterprise Bank from the Asset Management
Company of Nigeria [AMCON], and the EFCC was seeking certain
information on the said account, following a petition over certain
issues relating to them.
Reacting to the
allegation, the Group Head, Corporate Communication, Heritage Bank, Mr.
Fela Ibidapo said that the EFCC was investigating some accounts at the
bank but they were a fairly routine process.
“There
is no management fraud. There is a customer’s account that the EFCC is
interested in and the normal thing is to talk to the account officer.
They are just investigating an account entry.
They
have invited the relationship manager. It is still being investigated
and for confidential issues, I can’t divulge more than that.”
The EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed that the commission was investigating some accounts at the bank but refused to give more information.
“It
is true that some of our people went to the bank but it was a routine
investigation. They went to get documents in relation to the
investigation. I cannot say more than that for now.”
The
development is what is known in banking as an acquisition/combination
issue. It is understood that any contentious issues with respect to
banks are typically handled by the bank regulator, the Central Bank of
Nigeria [CBN], while the EFCC deals with issues arising from infraction
in banking transactions and regulatory infractions with potential
fraudulent implications.
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