The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) has said today that it has arrested three of the five former MD/ CEOs of banks sacked last week by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN .

Those in the EFCC custody as of this evening were former MD/CEO of Union Bank PLC, Mr. Bartholomew Ebong; Mr. Okey Nwosu formerly Finbank Managing Director and Mr. Peter Elolo of Falcon security.

Vanguard however learnt that Mrs Cecilia Ibru, former MD/CEO of Oceanic Bank was also arrested today by operatives of the States Security Services SSS , when she attempted to leave the country.

Mrs. Ibru and others arrested by the SSS were to be handed over to the EFCC later .

EFCC spokesman Femi Babafemi, told Vanguard on telephone that “we only threaten to declare them wanted , but we have got some of them already”.

Here is the link to the story. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/08/18/security-operatives-arrest-ibru-nwosu-ebong-others/

events are gradually unfolding. I thought CBN should have completed the audit of all the banks before coming out with any decision. Well we are watching

This is intresting.waiting and watching.

Wow.This is another hit thread

This case will soon die down just like other celebrated Nigerian cases i.e. None of them will ever be found guilty of any wrongdoing in a court of law.
Let's just lay back and relax while the fun lasts.

U just spoke my mind.
I'm going 2watch dis MOVIE til d end.

I hereby renounce my activity and participation in Nairaland's politics forum.Nigeria was bleeped ,is bleeped and will continue being bleeped.

hollandis:

I hereby renounce my activity and participation in Nairaland's politics forum.Nigeria was bleeped ,is bleeped and will continue being bleeped.

hollandis,

Where do you think you're going?

Better stay here and suffer with us.

wtf is goin on with our dear country!!!!

I really don,t know why i clicked on this thread ,now I have a nasty headache .Nigeria's problem are so petty and irritating.No hope for this country (I finally agree with my friends).
@Richyblack- Can you redirect  vivian chukwuemeka's thread from the sports to the political section?

ufot:

wtf is goin on with our dear country!!!!

No idea. Everyone is fed up with the way things are going right now. Siddon look syndrome pays compared to the Martyrdom road.

I hope they are serious this time and not just reacting to Hillary Clinton's visit comment. The bankers really need to explain why they have to make people poor just because they trusted them.  They should get the Ebitimi Banigos and the Sarakis arrested too not just these latest ones.

Grace to Grass

that ibru woman hand no clean!

these five failed banks is an indictment on soludo.

I hope something good comes outta this. . . . . . . _{Cos na initial gra-gra dem first dey do,dem no get finishing}

Na Today, All we can do is to wait

For names of the debtors to the 5 banks - real federal character representation.

http://cenbank.org/Out/publications/pressRelease/GOV/2009/ADVERTORIAL2.pdf

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” - Warren Buffet

Finally. These guys were cooking the books like Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Bernie Ebbers and Bernard Madoff. They should be given life sentences to set an example and to deter this kind of future behavior. If the ministry of justice or the attorney general let this guys walk away, then this would confirm there incompetence.

EFCC Grills 3 ex-Bank MDs

Three of the five bank executives sacked last Friday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were quizzed and detained yesterday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on suspicion of various crimes, including fraud and insider trading.

This came just as the State Security Service (SSS) last Monday raided the house of the immediate past Managing Director of Union Bank, Bartholomew Ebong, with two lorry loads of officials in a bid to unravel circumstances behind some questionable loans he granted while in office.
Also, security operatives stopped the dismissed Managing Director of Oceanic Bank Plc, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, from travelling out of the country yesterday in her private jet.

The three executives said to have been picked up between Monday night and yesterday morning were Ebong; Okey Nwosu of FinBank and Afribank Nigeria Plc’s Sebastian Adigwe.

A top official of the EFCC confirmed that Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank Plc and Ibru had not yet been interrogated.
“We are looking for about 19 of them (executives) and these include the Managing Directors and other officials of the subsidiaries of these banks,” the official told THISDAY last night.

Meanwhile, the newspaper gathered that on getting to Ebong’s house and being informed that he was not around, the SSS arrested his domestic help and later quizzed the Managing Directors of two of the bank’s subsidiaries – Henry Onyemem of Union Trustees and Niyi Opeodu of Union Capital.

The two men were later released, but their passports were seized to prevent them from leaving the country.

While the SSS was raiding Ebong’s house, it was gathered that the former Union Bank CEO was in a meeting with the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in Abuja.

The banking watchdog had last Friday wielded the big axe on the managing directors and chief executives as well as the executive directors of the five banks, by removing them from office.

The executives were fired on the ground of “being principal causes of financial instability in their banks and for acting in a manner that was detrimental to the interest of their depositors and creditors”.

With the removal of the CEOs and their EDs, the CBN appointed new CEOs to head management teams that will include executive directors and chief financial officers to be appointed by the regulator pending when the banks will be resuscitated and handed over to new managements.
In a bid to address the banks’ liquidity problems, the banking watchdog had last Friday injected a total of N420 billion. Intercontinental Bank and Oceanic Bank each got N100 billion; Union Bank received N120 billion, while Afribank and Finbank each got N50 billion.

But THISDAY gathered these funds were not sufficient to meet the needs of some of the troubled banks whose new managing directors have already intimated the CBN Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, of the need to pump in more funds said to be running into a trillion at the last count.
Sanusi has pledged that no banks will be allowed to fail.


http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=152056

It has started, getting politicians to bail you out. Why is Madam Oceanic running?

Interesting Movie and Nice Characters too.

The point is, all of my life i have TRUSTED Cecelia Ibru (The Oceanic Bank Thief).

brein:

Interesting Movie and Nice Characters too.

The point is, all of my life i have TRUSTED [b]Cecelia Ibru[/b] (The Oceanic Bank Thief).

I guess the trust came from the fact that she is a pastor or a born again and visits Daddy G.O every now and then.
Nigerians can never learn.

brein:

Interesting Movie and Nice Characters too.

The point is, all of my life i have TRUSTED Cecelia Ibru (The Oceanic Bank Thief).

i posted an apt response to this comment on another thread without seeing this.
anybody that trusts or believes in any Nigerian elite is to be most pitied of all men.
always take with a grain of salt anything you read about them.
they are mostly hypocrites.
i read an interview and article on the Oceanic CEO on Mckinsey website on Thursday.
if you know about he world of corporate consulting, you will know that McKinsey and BCG are the biggest and most respected in the world.
seeing her being painted in such glowing terms and talking big in the interview, i was just telling myself that i hope this is the entire story.
2 days later, the bubble burst.
i don't trust any of these people, not even Sanusi

Let's go there!

Just like I have been arguing since Lamido for reasons best known to him rushed to anounce the sack of these CEOs and further plunge into details of how insolvent thier banks were and almost even declared them bankrupt,obviously,this decision does't look like it was well thought out.Now there are reports that these 5 banks might need up 1trillion due to thier indebtedness both to the CBN and other banks.The question that comes to mind is,what if they discover at the end of the audit exercise that more banks are deeply insolvent?Yes,he was able to decipher the insolvency symptoms from these five banks due to the fact that they accounted for more than 80% of the EDW and the inter-bank market but are these enough guarantees to conclude that the remaining 13 banks won't throw up another shocker?He must have underestimated the extent of the problem to think that anouncing the overhaul of the managements and injecting a mere #400bill into these 5 banks will solve the problem,I guess he now realizes that the problem goes far beyond risk management.For instance,according to report,one of the banks almost immediately exhuasted it's own share of the #420bill,it was reported that the said bank was owing CBN #60bill and other banks #70bill,one just wonders if sanusi and his team did a thorough audit of these banks before rushing out cos obviously they ve been caught unawares.Another question which many of us re not asking is where are these funds coming from?I mean this is a government that is still deadlocked with ASUU over funds talking about saving 5 privately owned banks with #1trillion.Besides,does the national assembly know about this?Is this mystery money coming from Yaradua's or Lamido's pockets?If it's from our reserves then I want to believe it's not a CBN solo project,the merits and demerits of releasing this huge amount will ve to be debated at the national assembly and this might take time,my gues is the banks will have to wait.
I believe Sanusi should ve been a bit patient and do a thorough auditing on all the 23 banks,work out less fatal modalities for solving this problem especially in these areas:formulate laws that make it almost impossible to indulge in bad corporate governance etc,root out the bad eggs in the CBN that ve hitheto given pass marks to these banks even when it was glaringly clear that they were gravely distressed,go after the crooks that have collected huge non-servicing loans from these banks without making any attempts to pay back,evaluate the actual extent of the problem so as to know how much fund to be mobilised to solve the problem and then finally, systematically depose of the management team of the failing banks.This way,his sanitization exercise will be more effective and ppl won't ve any insinuations but with his present mafia style,which makes the situation more about him, there's so much to read into it and they re very strong arguements.God help this country.

nuzo:

I guess the trust came from the fact that she is a pastor or a born again and visits Daddy G.O every now and then.
Nigerians can never learn.

Are you sure your sanity is intact?what has GO or COME got to do with this?Has she committed any crime?.Nigeria is a failing state,no thanks to the FG,INEC,ASUU,LEGISLATORS,JUDICIARY and your likes.

there is more than meet the eye.i smell a rat.

In as much as I don`t like joining issues with people. I think the likes of hollandis should shut up if they don`t have any positive thing to say.

hollandis:

Has she committed any crime?.

yes, hollandis, betrayal of trust is crime against humanity innocent people who have kept their hard earn money with them or bought shares in these companies based on figures they display and promises given now are let down. Last year alone, most pension funds lost about 30 - 40 % in value which means people might retire to nothing after contributing some percentages of their salaries into those funds for so many years. The realities of present situation is scary.

@Topic
Interesting!
Let's hope they arrest all of them and properly try them for insider dealings and share manipulations to the detriment of their shareholders and the economy at large.

aquita:

In as much as I don`t like joining issues with people. I think the likes of hollandis should shut up if they don`t have any positive thing to say.

I reiterate,arguing over the internet is as useful as talking to a fenced post.GEDDIT?