A federal judge in Nigeria dismissed
charges Monday against a former bank CEO accused in a massive mismanagement
scheme that nearly brought down the country’s financial sector. Erastus
Akingbola, formerly the CEO of Intercontinental Bank PLC, walked out of court a
free man while Justice Charles Archibong harshly criticized efforts by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to prosecute the financier, the
banker’s lawyer Felix O. Fagbohungbe said. Archibong’s decision to dismiss all
the charges against Akingbola came after lawyers for the anti-graft agency asked
to resubmit charges against the banker. Fagbohungbe said the judge told the
court the trial had dragged on long enough and accused the commission’s lawyers
of incompetence. The judge’s order also asked the nation’s attorney general to
disband the prosecution’s team and suggested that ethical violation charges be
brought against them. “They weren’t
diligent. They wanted to delay the procedures of the court,” Fagbohungbe told
The Associated Press after the hearing Monday in Lagos.
Akingbola had faced charges accusing him of money laundering and
falsifying records. Wilson Uwujaren, a spokesman for the commission, could not
be reached for comment Monday night. The failed prosecution comes amid other
high-profile corruption cases falling apart in Nigeria, which analysts consider
to have one of the world’s most graft-riddled government. The banking cases were
especially horrifying, as analysts say the mismanagement involved nearly brought
down all the nation’s banks. Central bank governor Lamido Sanusi fired Akingbola
and four other bank chiefs in August 2009 before he injected $2.55 billion into
their troubled banks. Sanusi had been nominated new central bank chief merely
two months earlier and faced a spiraling financial crisis that threatened the
oil-rich nation’s banking system. Analysts later said the crisis grew out of lax
regulation of financial institutions in Nigeria, leaving ample room for banks to
cook their books. A top exporter of crude oil to the U.S., Nigeria is also
considered West Africa’s banking epicenter with some of its banks having opened
branches outside the country. Despite stopping a 2009 crash, banking remains on
the ropes in Nigeria. The federal government nationalized three major banks in
August over insolvency worries. Akingbola’s own Intercontinental Bank was taken
over by Access Bank PLC in January.