frankkky:
haba okiro didnt steal public money,it was a loan he took ,the bank and him should go and sort themselves out afterall were we there when they were giving him the loan
I think you need to read the write up again just in case you missed somethings out especially the forgery part and claims in his latest reply that his wife owns the company blah blah hlah. Start from this one The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has accused the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mike Okiro, of contributing to the liquidation of Lead Bank Ltd.
NDIC alleged that Okiro contributed to the bank’s insolvency by failing to repay credits of more than N166 million extended to him between 2000 and 2001.
The corporation alleged that Okiro secured the loan to finance a pipeline laying contract that he won from Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), adding that he used his family business enterprise, Hekiro Nigeria Ltd, to obtain the loans.
The police reacted swiftly to the allegation, which they described as "blackmail".
In a July 20 letter to Okiro, NDIC lawyer Mr Okunade Olorundare (SAN), demanded re-payment of the loan within 48 hours. The corporation also accused Okiro of abuse of office and a breach of the Code of Conduct for public officers for using his office to secure the contract.
"Our client informed us that as at January 16, 2006 when the banking licence of Lead Bank Ltd was revoked, Hekiro Nig. Ltd, which was being run as your family business enterprise was indebted to the bank to the tune of N166,597,365.97.
"NDIC as a liquidator of Lead Bank Ltd wrote you a demand letter on May 9, 2007, asking you for proposal on how you would want to liquidate the debt. "By various documents submitted to us by our client, you personally guaranteed the loan by mortgaging your landed property at Abeokuta covered by certificate of occupancy number 022226 in the name of Mike Mbama Okiro, which you obtained while in Ogun State Command of the Police.
"From some of the documents passed to us, you signed as chairman, while in some, you signed as director for Hekiro Nigeria Limited.
"However, despite the fact that you are a police officer and knowing the implication of forging a signature, you signed as Bessy Okiro and which signature is consistent with your true signature as Sir Mike Okiro on some of the documents available to us.
"Apart from signing as Bessy Okiro, we have discovered that you did not declare your interest in Hekiro Nigeria Ltd to the Code of Conduct Bureau as required by the 1999 Constitution," the letter said.
Hekiro Nigeria Ltd, NDIC said, maintained a corporate account number 32620009260 with the Port Harcourt, Rivers State branch of the bank where the facilities were drawn.
The corporation said Okiro’s international passport number AO696925 was used in opening the account.
NDIC contended that after series of efforts to recover the loan, Okiro’s wife, Hera, paid N5million vide a Fidelity Bank cheque number 00553907 on April 30.
"Our instruction, therefore, is to demand for the immediate payment of the outstanding sum of N161,597,365.97 which was the accrued debt as at January 16, 2006.
"You are to deposit the above sum in our chambers or pay directly to NDIC, the liquidator of Lead Bank Ltd, within 48 hours from today.
"In addition to the above, it is our client’s further instruction to drag you before the Code of Conduct Tribunal and equally to write to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and related agencies to prosecute you.
"You are to comply with the above demand immediately, else, we shall carry out our client’s instructions to the hilt," the letter said.
Contacted, the Police Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ojukwu, said the letter was directed to Okiro personally, adding that the alleged transaction was private not official.
Ojukwu said he recalled that the police had charged the NDIC management to court for alleged conspiracy and fraudulent deals with the recovered fund of Fortune Bank (in liquidation).
He said the allegation against Okiro could be a "hit back" by the corporation.
The police filed charges at an Abuja High Court against NDIC Managing Director, Mr Ganiyu Ogunleye and its Executive Director of Operations, Prof. Peter Umoh.
Also charged are two members of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) -Interim Management Committee for Fortune Bank, Dr Joe Emerson, and Mr Innocent Ilozumba, a manager with Fidelity Bank, Adedapo Agboola and a former chief accountant of Fortune Bank, Pius Obeleke.
The police alleged that Ogunleye, Umoh, Emerson and Ilozumba unilaterally granted 60 per cent interest waiver on the indebtedness of Nasarawa State Government to Fortune Bank without the approval of the then Finance Minister, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman.
They were also accused of dishonesty in depositing the N1.058 billion recovered from Nasarawa State Government with Fidelity Bank, instead of a designated Fortune Bank Account number 023-01236-41-55-3 with CBN.
The corporation, however, submitted that the criminal charge was "frivolous and a crude attempt to intimidate its officials and divert their attention from recovering the outstanding debt of N161.9 million, owed by Okiro’s family to Lead Bank".
NDIC said on November 12, last year, Okiro’s wife met with its officials and sought an interest concession on the loan which was not granted.
Retiring Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro yesterday admitted that his wife owns the company accused of contributing to the collapse of Lead Bank by not defraying loans amounting to N167 million, but denied direct links with the company.
Okiro said at a meeting with senior police officers in Abuja that the company, Hekiro Nigeria Ltd, which the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) accused of borrowing a total of N166. 597 million between 2000 and 2001 from the now failed Lead Bank, belongs to his wife Mrs. Hera Okiro.
He said his wife borrowed $1.4 million from the bank to undertake a contract secured by the company from Agip Oil Company to the tune of $2.4 million. Okiro said his wife then opened an account with the bank, which Agip agreed to pay the money into.
“This was done in collaboration with the bank so that as Agip pays the contract money, the bank will recoup its money including the interest. When Lead Bank had some problem my wife opened an account with the National Bank (in liquidation) in which Agip was informed. Agip has been remitting the money into the National Bank account,” Okiro said.
He said three years later Agip informed his wife that the oil company had paid the sum of $2.4 million into the National Bank account and she contacted the NDIC for settlement but this was never done.
Okiro was responding to news reports quoting a letter sent to him by NDIC, in which the commission accused him of being the real owner of Hekiro Ltd because he signed cheques of the company’s accounts.
Okiro said he allowed his wife who hitherto worked with a bank to set up the company (Hekiro) so she could settle with him instead of moving from one place to another on transfer.
He said his wife’s company is not on the list of those indebted to Lead Bank recently released by the Senate. He said NDIC only wanted to hit back at him because he investigated and prosecuted some of its officials including the Managing Director Ganiyu Ogunlewe. “I was requested to investigate the NDIC officials by the National Assembly,” he added.
NDIC lawyer Mr. Okunade Olurundare had in a letter to Okiro dated July 20, demanded the re-payment of the loan within 48 hours, failing which the commission would take action against him.
Olorundare told Daily Trust by phone yesterday that even though Okiro has responded to the letter, the case will still be referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal for further investigation.
He said he was yet to read Okiro’s reply because he was not in his Abuja office when the reply was delivered.
On Wednesday, NDIC alleged that Okiro used his family company, Hekiro Nigeria Ltd, to collect loans from Lead Bank and refused to repay, and therefore contributed to the collapse of the bank.
Records show that even though the company was registered on January 25, 1989 under an assumed name of Madam Bessy Okiro, signatures used to collect loans from the failed bank included that of the former IGP. The records also show that the signature on the International Passport of Mike Okiro with passport number A0696925 issued on October 19, 2000 is similar to the one used by Bessy Okiro.
The NDIC letter to Okiro had said, “From some of the documents passed to us, you signed as Chairman, while in some, you signed as Director for Hekiro Nigeria Limited. However, despite the fact that you are a Police Officer and knowing the implication of forging a signature, you signed as Bessy Okiro and which signature is consistent with your true signature as Sir Mike Okiro on some of the documents available to us. Apart from signing as Bessy Okiro, we have discovered that you did not declare your interest in Hekiro Nigeria Ltd to the Code of Conduct Bureau as required by the 1999 Constitution.”
But the Senate yesterday frowned at non-inclusion of Hekiro Nigeria Limited in the list of debtors of failed banks submitted to it by the NDIC.
Speaking to Daily Trust on telephone yesterday, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu (PDP, Abia) said the NDIC must be queried over the non inclusion of Hekiro on the list.
“I don’t know why NDIC did not include the firm in the list they sent to us during the investigation we conducted. I am going to write a query to them on this because it shows that they may still be hiding some of the debtors,” she said. |
