N23bn scam: CBN officials storm Fidelity Bank headquarters
Ifeanyi Onuba, Abuja
Officials of the Central Bank of
Nigeria’s Compliance Unit on Tuesday stormed the headquarters of
Fidelity Bank Plc in Lagos in connection with the ongoing investigations
into the $115m (N23bn) scam involving the Managing Director of the
bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, and the former Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
A top executive of the bank confided in
our correspondent that the CBN officials visited the bank’s headquarters
as part of investigations into the deal.
It was learnt that a committee from
Fidelity Bank had already made a comprehensive presentation to the CBN
on its involvement in the deal.
This, according to the source, will
further help both the apex bank and the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission in the ongoing investigations.
It was gathered that the visit by the
compliance unit of the apex bank to Fidelity Bank was to compare
transaction documents with the presentation made by the committee.
These, it was learnt, would be compared with the statement made to the EFCC by the embattled managing director.
When contacted, the Acting Director,
Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, promised to find out
about the visit and get back to our correspondent.
Calls and text messages sent to his mobile phone almost an hour later were not replied as of the time of going to press.
The Board of Directors of the bank had
on Monday announced the appointment of the Executive Director, North,
Alhaji Mohammed Balarabe, as the Acting Managing Director/Chief
Executive of Fidelity Bank with immediate effect subject to regulatory
approval.
During the build-up to the 2015
presidential election, Alison-Madueke allegedly invited Okonkwo to help
her handle some cash, which would be disbursed to electoral officials
and groups.
Meanwhile, shares of Fidelity Bank fell
by almost eight per cent to a two-month low of N1.08 on Tuesday, the
first day of trading this week
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