EFCC Freezes Accounts of Sacked Bank MDs
•Auditors invited for interrogation •Akingbola’s residence under surveillance
By Ayodele Aminu in Lagos and Yemi Akinsuyi in Abuja, 08.22.2009

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission has frozen the bank accounts of the managing directors of the five banks sacked last week.

The affected former MDs are Union Bank’s Bartholomew Ebong, FinBank's Okey Nwosu, Afribank’s Sebastian Adigwe, Intercontinental Bank's Erastus Akingbola and Oceanic Bank's Cecilia Ibru.

The external and internal auditors of the five banks have also been invited for interrogation by the EFCC.

Also yesterday, the commission mounted surveillance on the home of Akingbola in Ikoyi, Lagos in a bid to gather information about his movement.
According to a source at the EFCC office in Abuja, the accounts of the sacked MDs were frozen “so that they will not continue to have access to huge money while being investigated.”

The five banks MDs are said to operate accounts in different banks in the country with unspecified but large amounts.

Although, their foreign accounts were not affected by yesterday’s action, the EFCC source said that it was only a matter of time before their foreign accounts are frozen, wherever they might be.

"With money in their accounts, you and I know quite well that they would do and undo. But without money anywhere, intense and proper investigations would be conducted on them. We hope to arrest the remaining two banks chiefs in no time.”

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=152310

I am yet to understand this whole drama.

Good move but whats the motive?

I enjoy watching the antics of big bank managers in trouble as much as anybody else,
but I can't shake off the feeling that they are being punished for failure and not criminality.

How many accounts will they know, what about the ones in proxies.

kshow1:

How many accounts will they know, what about the ones in proxies.

Don't bank managers have living expenses to take care of? Don't they have children's school fees to pay?

@ topic

Not Big news anymore

That the government is forcefully going after the bank execs this way is a good thing. Clearly, the execs have been more than incompetent – criminal really – in terms of not providing for their debt portfolio when they declare their figures. Declaring phantom profits and keeping the true state of their health from the public. This should be a crime. This is roughly equivalent to what Enron execs did it in the 90s and they, rightly, went to jail for it. The bank execs in Nigeria should be hounded and pursued to the gates of hell. It is of paramount importance that we build a tangible framework to deal with the fallout of this clusterfuck, but knowing Nigerians, I expect them to just sweep things under the rug at some point.

[color=#990000][/color] I pray for this nation, may God deliver us from this evil rulers who use every opportunity and public position for political vendetta. Trust me, this whole drama is POLITICALLY MOTIVATED.
How can you descend on some banks while the others are still being investigated?
Some of these bank chiefs and their caucus have stepped on toes concerning some sensitive(undergorund) issues. Its time to deal with them!!!
Thats all we get from these leaders. When power cchange hands, the next thing is to witch-haunt some others using state instrument and office.
Thats exactly what the noise is all about.
Amidst ALL of the many noise we hear them make, lets ask ourselves: "where is the development that Nigerians yearn for?"
, water, stable electricity supply, security of lives and props, shelter and goods are the basic things Nigerians ask for.
Does it look like they are SINCERELY concerned? How does politics put food on the table of the common man?
When elephants fight, its the grass that suffers. When sth similar hapenned in the US recently, even in the face of recession, bailout plan was their soulution. These people know the right thing to do, but their bellies wont allow, loyalty wont allow, this era will soon phase out in our nation, i pray.
Naija people, wise up!

Seun:

Don't bank managers have living expenses to take care of? Don't they have children's school fees to pay?

That is why i threw up the question because they most still continue to pick up their bills.

vikiviko:

I am yet to understand this whole drama.

9ja4eva:

Good move but whats the motive?

I'm not a fan of any of the Running 5 bt jst know dt Sausi's action has to b justified even if it's for d moment. D ideal may be to verify if have interests in the debtor companies. These guys took a costly gamble into business Which leta failed-- wrong business decisions. I don't think they hav bn accused of crime yet.

The movie has just begun.
Watch out for PART 3, 4, 5 et al.

I'm not impressed!

None of Ibori's or Odili's account is fozen! lol

freeze their accounts so that they wont have access to legal fees to defend themselves? After CBN is already accepting that it might have made mistakes with some of the figures released. Nigeria is  full of people always doing the right thing with the wrong approach.

I think govt is confused , they are not performing and they are using this medium to distract nigerians from the real issues at hand ,
MILITANTS, ASUU STRIKE, ELECTRICITY PROBLEMS, RISING COST OF LIVING, BOKO HARAM, etc.
Government is using this as diversionary tactics , Yar Adua and his PDP led govt should stand up to the responsibilities of leading the natiion aright.
I believe that there is a hidden agenda in this whole thing , they want the ownership of the banks to be changed and that is why they hurriedly injected money so that new investors, most likely, from the north can come in ,

seconded

its just wayoziri the olodo seeking relevance and highlighting her ignorance

the foolish woman was on the airwaves giving the debtors 1 week to pay their debts or 'face the full wrath of the law' or some such.

looking for a way to steal or cash in on sanusi's thunder

Yaradua should simply resign. He is a useless president.

Yaradua should simply resign. He is a useless president.

@Crude oil

Actually, i feel Yar Adua's govt is more purposeful than Obj's.I know everyone has a coined name for him (Yar Adull, Yar Olodo,Yar Afool, etc) but it's only during his tenure the ever frequent fuel scarcity came to a halt.Also, it's only during his tenure i've seen the price of fuel come down (from N70 to N65) which is pretty un-usual in 9ja.There might be other attributes that i'm overlooking but give kudos where it's due.

Some say Obj was a better president.Well, i'd say they are all the same thing.The reason why Obj seemed more "active" was because he knew how to "entertain" the masses and divert their attention e.g We are either hearing of him sleeping with his son's wife OR telling journalists to "shut up" OR making a buffoon of himself on BBC OR sending Ribadu after his "enemies" OR Saigem Scam OR Power Scam OR,

The list is endless but you get the point.HE WAS ALWAYS IN THE NEWS and that's why some people think he was an "active" president.

In between, let no one talk of GSM.That one no follow.

na wa o, is this not going too far

quite unfortunate the way this drama is being acted. it seems vindictive though

Yar'adua! where is he? i op he is in d country ds tym

I really do not like the way EFCC has stepped into this matter.

The CEO's have not been accused or charged of committing a crime and recovery of debt should be the issue of the debtors, banks, CBN and the court.

***yawn***

I really do not like the way EFCC has stepped into this matter.

The CEO's have not been accused or charged of committing a crime and recovery of debt should be the issue of the debtors, banks, CBN and the court.

From what i gathered, these CEO's were investing with bank's money outside the jurisdiction of banking policy.In other words, a CEO could take out N25 billion and take risks with that money in business, make profits for themselves and return the original capital back to the bank.Also, i gathered Soludo was aware of this and got his percentage.

(Don't ask me for sources.Na person wey dey work for one of the affected banks tell me this one)

frozen accounts?

wahala dey oh, unless they have access to other money elsewhere.

EFCC is just playing to the gallery; some of what they say is quite contradictory. This whole saga is becoming more of a media creation.

there is something you guyz must know, the AREWA BOYZ want to increase there share in the banking industry.

the whole saga appears to be politically motivated,there are so many fishy questions to be asked : why only after 2 months in office Sanusi saw that his greatest enemies in the industry Akingbola and Cecilia were removed,also why FinBank MD was removed might ring a bell Yaradua s relative was the former MD of Inland bank who lost his job after the consolidation,that the bank chiefs were removed while other banks are being audited also sounds quite unfair.I mean why freeze the accounts of the MDs when there is no reasonable evidence of embezzlement,what happens to the accounts of the Iboris,Abachas,Odilis who have embezzled from the nations treasury,they would not be freezed?I think the EFCC should get their focus right,many of our politicians are economic and financial criminals and they deserve to have frozen accounts,the president inclusive.

All this is now trning politically motivated, why should the EFCC be involved in an issue that concerns banks and financial institutions. this is a country that should have a financial regulatory body, and financial services authority who should be the one investigating this case and not until when all facts and evidence has been put in place before the efcc can now be moved in to start proceedings against them for corruption, embezzlement, and conspiracy to defraud,e.t.c. against them.

the efcc woman just wants to play to the gallery.