Jim Ovia's Passport Seized

SSS impounds Ovia (Zenith Bank), Imoukhuede (Access Bank Plc), other Bank MDs' passports
Durojaiye, Kingsley Ighomwenghian And Tunde Opeseitan, Lagos

The ongoing shakeup in the banking sector instituted by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Lamido Sanusi, produced additional shockers on Friday with the seizure of the passports of five more bank Managing Directors (MDs) by the State Security Services (SSS)



 
http://odili.net/news/source/2009/sep/19/404.html


Saturday Independent (a sister publication) had on Friday exclusively reported the confiscation on Thursday of the passport of Bank PHB Managing Director Francis Atuche, perhaps in connection with the mess the CBN is trying to clear up in the financial sector.

As at press time, no fewer than five more MDs were said to have been invited by the SSS to surrender their passports.

Sources gave the names of the invited others as Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede (Access Bank Plc); Ike Oraekwuotu (Equitorial Trust Bank Plc); Segun Oloketuyi (Wema Bank Plc); Jim Ovia (Zenith Bank Plc) and Akinsola Akinfemiwa (Skye Bank Plc).

When contacted, spokesmen of some of the affected banks denied that their chief executives had their travel documents seized by the SSS.

Kayode Akinyemi of Skye Bank described the report as "baseless and unfounded rumours."

Timi Ejoor of Zenith Bank retorted: "there is nothing like that," just as a source at Access Bank said it is not true.

Meanwhile, stockbroker and Managing Director of Falcons Securities Limited, Peter Ololo on Friday also regained his freedom after meeting the conditions of the bail granted him by the court.

Several other bank executives are still being held, pending when they will fulfil the bail conditions the Federal High Court in Lagos granted them on Monday and Tuesday.

A top official of the SSS said on Thursday that the government is keeping a close watch on the executives of the 14 banks, whose audit report the CBN has completed and plans to release next month.

The Federal Government is said to be worried about the situation with Erastus Akingbola, former Intercontinental MD, who escaped to London after he was sacked on August 14 along with Ibru, Nwosu, Ebong and Adigwe.

CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, disclosed in Lagos on Wednesday that the audit has been completed in 11 of the 14 banks.

That of the remaining three (Stanbic Chartered, Stanbic IBTC and Citibank) began on Wednesday, he said.

"Each bank was examined by 10 examiners, five from the CBN and five from the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). I have not finished looking at the reports," Lamido added.

The 11 banks are Skye, Bank PHB, Ecobank, Zenith, First City Monument, Fidelity, Spring, Access, Wema, Unity and Equitorial Trust.

The first audit led to the sack of the MDs of five banks - Oceanic, Intercontinental, Union, FinBank, and Afribank.

Five other banks - United Bank for Africa (UBA), First Bank, Guaranty Trust, Diamond, and Sterling - were given the all clear.

Saturday Independent reported on September 4 that the CBN had completed its audit of the 14 remaining banks and that 11 scaled the examination while three did not make the grade.

Sources said when the CBN reconciled the assets of the three "failed banks" with their liabilities, they were found to be negative, an indication that they were insolvent.

However, officials of the banks insisted that they are solvent, saying the banks only have systems failure.

Two non-executive directors of Intercontinental Bank, Christopher Adebayo Alabi and Isyaku Umar also met their bail conditions late Friday, thus bringing the number of bank executives out of custody so far to 10.

Former Oceanic Bank, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru regained her freedom on Wednesday after meeting her bail conditions.

Three other former MDs, Barth Ebong (Union), Okey Nwosu (FinBank), and Sebastian Adigwe (Afribank) left the custody of the EFCC on Thursday, as did Raymond Obieri (Intercontinental Bank Chairman), and two Directors of the bank, Samuel Adegbite and Hyacinth Enuha.

It was, however, not certain as at press time whether two other directors of Intercontinental bank, Bayo Dada and Sani Adams, and two directors of Union Bank, Henry Onyemem and Niyi Opeodu had perfected their bail conditions.

All the accused were granted bail in the sum of N100 million each and two sureties each in like sum.

The EFCC is prosecuting the former bank executives on a combined 131 charges, including granting over N500 billions loans without collateral and mismanagement of depositor's funds.

Ruling on the bail applications, Justice Dan Abutu directed that the sureties must be Nigerians resident in either Lagos or Abuja and that the surety must own landed property in Ikoyi, Lekki or Victoria Island areas of Lagos or Maitama, Asokoro or Garki areas of Abuja.

The court held that the surety could also be chairman of board of directors of any company or oil firm, whose asset base is not less that N1 billion and that the asset base must be reflected in the 2008 annual financial report of the company.

The court further directed that the surety could be a serving or former Senator, member of House of Representatives, former or serving Governor or Deputy Governor and Speaker or Deputy Speaker of any state House of Assembly in the country.

The court also prohibited all the accused from travelling out of the country pending the determination of the trial, and directed them to always report to the head office of EFCC every first working day of every month.

Justice Abutu, however, directed the EFCC to verify all the documents to be submitted by the sureties within 48 hours of submission.

While granting the bail, the court held: "There is no conclusive evidence that the accused persons, if released on bail, will escape from or interfere with prosecution witnesses. What is crucial in any condition for bail is that the condition to be imposed must ensure that the accused persons are available for trial.

"They are such conditions that are reasonably necessary that will make the accused persons' presence in court," Abutu ruled.

We have demoNcrazy in Nigeria now. How can they impound his passport when he hasn't been charged with no crime?. Do we have a rule of law in Nigeria or are they having a field day because Gani is dead?

How did you know he is guilty without being tried?. This is jungle justice.

looks like the others before, they all look to have something to do with redeemed church or yorubas. find out what make the name   Aig-Imoukhuede .

Something is happening i cant explain over the internet.

  Jim Ovia had an interview wit d press and displayed his travelling documents proving that his documents is still with him.intact and Zenith bank is very much free of any banking troubles.Pls always get your facts right before u post it.do a proper research

Peps stop the beefing.Visafone does not hv anything to do wit Zenith Bank Plc.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=154959


oops

it's nothing. i believe the primary objective is to prevent them from leaving the country while the investigation is still going on. i'm in support of it.

Using your analogy, it would suffice to say that Obasanjo, IBB and Igbinedion are not thieves abi? You sound so silly. I bet you're reallated to one of the bank chiefs.

For the sake of the ordinary Nigerian whose money is been given out to our acting big men without collateral, but who will never access a N100,000 loan from the banks. Let this action be brought to a logical conclusion.

@ A-town. You must be a cow. It's people like that pass jungle justice. Go and tell them that they are thieves if your ass will not land in jail. One thing you must understand is that these people could have stolen for real but we do not come on public blog like these to point accusing finger. Who knows what your own father had stolen from his own place of work? How Would you feel if I call your dad a thief? Am not related to any of these people but let's just wait for the law to take it's cause.

Are you getting fired up because i may be right? Are you sure you are not one of the beneficiaries of Nigerias stolen wealth. Stop making comments like you are fifth grader. These people are shady, hence the name calling. You know why you can not call my father a thief, HE DID NOT STEAL GOVT FUNDS!!! If he did, you can call him a thief. There is no need to be ignorant. If we follow your rule, all Nigerian officials, presnet and past are Innocent abi? Please tell me where all the stolen funds are since all these guys are born again christians. You are a disgrace to the internet. By the way, i  am exercising my right to type or speak whatever is on my mind.

I admire your maturity in responding to that pop tart. It is A-hole like that guy called iceland that destroy Nigeria, i bet he is either a bank worker or a relative of one of the thugs that is stealling from Nigeria. He is hallucinating from the fact that the banks cant afford to pay him big salary anymore, hence they blame the regulators who are trying to right the wrong created by these bank Ceos. Nigerian banks bit way more than they can chew, did anybody really believed that they can sustain all the things they dabbled into??

am shocked. he's quite a shy man. i live on the same street as him (st johns wood) he keeps a low proflile so does his wife (aunty kofo) and their well behaved children. i only see them in summer. apparently Zeinth Bank has a branch in London, was the bank not listed by Forbes as something. can't remember but i do remember reading something about it. Innocent until proven guilty,