N5.2b Fraud: Spring Bank MD Flees, Declared Wanted
Posted: September 14, 2010 - 22:07
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Mrs. Ayodele Olushola
PM News, Lagos
The Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Force CID, Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria, has declared the Managing Director of Spring Bank Plc, Mrs. Ayodele Olushola wanted over an alleged N5.208 billion fraud in the bank.

P.M.NEWS authoritatively gathered that the MD was declared wanted following her failure to report at the SFU after an arraignment notice had been served on her twice.

The arraignment notice to take her and others to court over the alleged N5.2 billion fraud in the bank was first served on 12 August, 2010, while the second one was served on her and others on 31 August, 2010.

A source at the SFU told P.M.NEWS that their investigation revealed that on getting wind of her arraignment before a law court over the alleged fraud, Mrs. Olushola fled to the United States of America.

“Our visits to her office and residence revealed that the woman has travelled out. We learnt she travelled on the night of the day we served her the notice of arraignment,” the source disclosed.

The notice of arraignment served Mrs. Olushola read in part: “This is to notify you that criminal charges have been filed against you, Mrs. Ayodele Olushola by the Federal Ministry of Justice, and this unit is to arraign you in court to answer to the charges against you…”

The Spring Bank MD, who was named as an accessory to the N5.2 billion fraud in the bank which involved the National Sports Lottery Plc and Strand Capital Partners Ltd, was charged to court along with Michael Ajamah, Lanre Odunlami, Awele Nwaboshi, Gladys Okebelama and Olubukola Moradeyo.


It was further learnt the five-count charge slammed on the accused in case No. FHC/L/284/10 charged to the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos is being prosecuted by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Dele Adesina & Co. and Legal Resources Alliance.

The charges include conspiracy to steal, obtaining by false pretence, forgery and accessory after fact of stealing.

The Spring Bank MD and her company were particularly charged with accessory after fact of stealing of the sum of N5.2 billion being the property of Strand Capital Partners Ltd, thereby committing an offence contrary to section 519 and punishable under the Criminal Code, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The case, which was first mentioned on 5 August, 2010, but was adjourned till 7 October, 2010 as neither the suspects nor their lawyers were in court.

The court has, however, mandated the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, to produce the suspects for arraignment on the next adjourned date, 7 October, 2010.

Mrs. Olushola was one of the seven managing directors appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on 2 October, 2009 to replace the sacked ones.

She replaced Charles Ojo in Spring Bank.

This na lie now! Haba! This same woman was at a press conference by the bank yesterday to debunk these allegations. Check today's Thisday's Newspaper.

P.M News again

wonderful, one of Lamido Sanusi's errors

This na lie now! Haba! This same woman was at a press conference by the bank yesterday to debunk these allegations. Check today's Thisday's Newspaper.

P.M News again

I thin you are right because I find it hard to belief that somebody who was just appointed to replace failed MD of the same bank would in a short period of time fraud this much billions, this information I seriously doubt it.

I dont belief with what happened to the past MD's the disgrace and the embarrassement alone would even make any normal person dare such again in just a very short time frama this can't be true. I think more details is needed on this thread before crucifying this woman.

Criminal Charges against Spring Bank Staff, a Hoax
09.14.2010

THISDAY Special Release

The management of Spring Bank Plc has debunked the fraud allegations against the current top management of the bank.

A newspaper report had last Monday alleged the involvement of the Spring Bank new management in fraud and economic crimes estimated at about N5.2 billion.

The report stated that the Federal Attorney General and the Justice Minister, Mr. Bello Adoke (SAN), had filed five charges against the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Spring Bank Plc, Mrs. Sola Ayodele, and other management staff of the bank.

Spring Bank, in a statement signed by its management, debunked the fraud allegations in its entirety, stating that there was no N5.2 billion or any money, not even a kobo, in the Strand Capital account in the first instance, which could have been stolen.

Rather, the bank said what is at issue is a long-drawn criminal manipulation of facts by Strand Capital and Secure Electronic Transactions Plc (formerly known as National Sports Lottery (NSL)), two companies owned by the Kola Daisi family, to fraudulently obtain the sum of N5.2 billion from the vaults of the bank. This, is notwithstanding of a matter filed by Spring Bank in 2009, seeking the repayment of an over N7 billion debt owed by NSL which is currently in the Federal High Court, Lagos Division before Justice Okechukwu Okeke.

The statement said: “The Sulayman Ndanusa-led interim management of the bank between 2007 and 2008 purportedly approved N5.2 billion for Strand Capital, who were underwriters to the failed NSL Initial Public Offer of 2008. However, the transaction was reversed by the Charles Ojo-led management under the Bank PHB/Spring Bank acquisition exercise, on the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which also ordered the termination of the transaction.

"The letter of the Central Bank of Nigeria reference number BSD/DO/SPD/IVG/Vol 1/01 dated November 28, 2008 refers.
“It is of the utmost importance that the purported approval of a loan, which was never credited to the account of Strand Capital and the termination of the transaction on the order of the Central Bank both occurred before Mrs Sola Ayodele was ever appointed as the Managing Director of Spring Bank in October 2009.

The CBN’s directive was premised on the fact that the transaction did not follow due process and clearly showed an abuse of Corporate Governance.”

Spring Bank explained: “A typical example of the illegality perpetrated in the purported approval of the facility is the fact that a former General Manager of Spring Bank, Dr. Tunji Sobodu, who facilitated the transaction was also at the relevant time, a director of Strand Capital. The facilitation was also done in conjunction with the former Treasurer of the bank, Dapo Adeyemi-Bajo, who now works with NSL.

The purported approval of the N5.2 billion facility neither passed through the Management Credit Committee, the Board Credit Committee nor the Interim Management Board at the time. These are some of the facts, which informed the intervention of the CBN as stated above.”

The bank, which has faulted the planned arraignment of the present GMD/CEO and other staff of the bank, some of whom were not parties to this transaction, has already secured an order of court, restraining the police from carrying out the threats of arrest.

Sources close to the bank also disclosed that the management staff of Spring Bank mentioned in the arraignment order have also alleged assassination threats on their lives after they bluntly refused attempts to induce them with several millions of naira to facilitate the reversal of the CBN order in the release of the N5.2 billion.

Spring Bank said: “The purported sum of N5.2 billion is still in the coffers of the bank and the present Management is committed to ensuring that depositors’ funds are not fraudulently converted through any illegal transaction.

Contrary to some media reports that the GMD Mrs Sola Ayodele is on the run, she is very much around performing her official duties in the bank.
“Finally, we wish to put on record that in spite of all these distractions, the current Management is resolute and determined in its effort to ensure that the bank remains stable and profitable.”

[size=8pt][size=8pt][size=8pt]NA WAH FOR NAIJA!!!!!!!!!!!!![/size][/size][/size] SO BECAUSE THEY NO GREE MAKE THEM OBTAIN THEM THAT IS WHY THEY WAN CHARGE THEM TO COURT FOR STEALING? TO OBTAIN NO BE BY FORCE, NA SENSE.  WHEN THEY NO FIT OBTAIN MUCH FROM NAIJA PEOPLE WITH THEIR BABA IJEBU LOTTERY, THEY WAN TRY BANK. ANY WAY SHA, THEY GET THE LEG BUT MAKE DEM LEAVE THE INNOCENT WOMAN ALONE

Nigeria with dia kuru-kere way of dealin with 1 another.

The sad thing about some comments is that they are totally immoderate and uninformed. Passion is no substitute for fact. In the case at hand, no one said that the Spring Bank M.D. dipped her hands into the bank vault. The charges in the newspapers publicised were that she was an accessory after the fact. This means that she knew of the illegal actions of her officers and helped to cover this up. Point again no one has said that she stole any money.

Some one also asked sarcastically where NSL could have got N5.2 billion? If you had read the newspapers again, you would have seen that these funds were the proceeds of a widely publicised IPO in 2008 to which Strand Capital was the lead issuing house and who therefore received the funds on behalf of its principal NSL.

It is sad where very negative presumptions are bandied about without contributors actually bothering to learn the facts. These three organisations have employees whose livelihood depends on the viability of the companies, but the pull them down syndrome and negative presumptions of Nigerians are such that we will be happier to destroy than to understand. Enough said.

N.B. I have noticed the abusive and ethnic based responses to this issue, is this necessary? How does this move us forward?

Ranoscky:

Nigeria with dia kuru-kere way of dealin with 1 another.

gbam!!
the boldness of the thieving party is enough to intimidate the just and make them look like the guilty party.
we might never know the truth.

just short of what to say.

Please can someone help out here, can't a law be made to have these guys , Ibori, Omoshola etc to face the firing squad, its been long I watched those series!!!
I guess the last one I watched was Aninie in 1987!!
Please once we deal with just 2-3 people will think twice, I promise you they would!!

:oNA WA OH!
ON THIS, I CAN AGREE THAT A WOMAN CAN DO BETTER

Chai, I have a relative working at Spring Bank o I pray she will not be put out of work soon. Na wa o.


www.vibes-extra..com

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha what a man can do a woman can do even better

All that money and she couldn't even buy a good wig

It's the handiwork of disgruntled share-holders/ex-employees (senior management level)of the bank.
End of.
No truth whatsoever in this story

no b d manager wey sanusi say dem go reposition bank b dis.abeg all na bobo

Jackson126:

The sad thing about some comments is that they are totally immoderate and uninformed. Passion is no substitute for fact. In the case at hand, no one said that the Spring Bank M.D. dipped her hands into the bank vault. The charges in the newspapers publicised were that she was an accessory after the fact. This means that she knew of the illegal actions of her officers and helped to cover this up. Point again no one has said that she stole any money.

Some one also asked sarcastically where NSL could have got N5.2 billion? If you had read the newspapers again, you would have seen that these funds were the proceeds of a widely publicised IPO in 2008 to which Strand Capital was the lead issuing house and who therefore received the funds on behalf of its principal NSL.

It is sad where very negative presumptions are bandied about without contributors actually bothering to learn the facts. These three organisations have employees whose livelihood depends on the viability of the companies, but the pull them down syndrome and negative presumptions of Nigerians are such that we will be happier to destroy than to understand. Enough said.

N.B. I have noticed the abusive and ethnic based responses to this issue, is this necessary? How does this move us forward?

chief i dont know what ure on about sir

i asked a valid question if Strand and NSL had 5.2 billion in the coffers of Spring bank and i think CBNs letter to strand has done justice to that.

i dont know of any proceeds from the IPO but i know the contentious issue has to do with the underwriting of the whole IPO process which Strand is claiming the said amount from.

no vex oh

I was not going to say anything @ first but decided otherwise.
Please let us all look @ d facts b4 condemning anyone o. The said "fraud" was committed long, long before Mrs Ayodele ever took up the reins of the bank. The same people who have been behind Spring bank's power tussle over the past 5years are not yet dead but still very much @ work smearing the image of the bank. It is very certain that if the allegations had been true, the CBN would have taken over the bank by this time. They have not done so (@least we shld have heard if they had), the bank is still making some profit and depositors funds are still safe.

^^^
According to CBN, the allegation is total hoax!!

Nigerians double standarads never ceases to amuse me.It seems we've all come to see this sanusi guy as a rare saint.
When he accused several of his former colleagues of misappropriating billions of naira,people readily believed him and started calling for thier heads.
Now that two of his goons have been accused of financial impropriety Nigerians want to give them the benefit of the doubt and have started defending them.
When sls said that the mds he removed were cooking the books people readily believed but is goons have started declaring mega profits everybody seems to be satisfied . why the double standard?

My brother tkb417, I no vex O! The point I was making was that the funds in issue emanated from the IPO transaction. This was in reply to the question posed. I would also add that the statement from the CBN is in bad taste and in contempt of court. It is known that when a case is taking place, all parties to this action must desist from making any prejudicial statements. The case was instituted by the Attorney General of the Federation and not any other party and as such all legal curtsey's must by acknowledged. The CBN knows this, why do they not wait to be invited to be witnesses in the case? this would be the respectable course of action rather that taking the place of the Judge and pronouncing on an ongoing case. Also remember that there must have been 'evidence' pointing to the culpability of Spring Bank in this issue or the Police would not have had the gall to proffer this case. Let us all have open minds and wait for the verdict. I still believe that the judiciary is the most credible institution in Nigeria and that justice will prevail in this case,

Jackson126:

My brother tkb417, I no vex O! The point I was making was that the funds in issue emanated from the IPO transaction. This was in reply to the question posed. I would also add that the statement from the CBN is in bad taste and in contempt of court. It is known that when a case is taking place, all parties to this action must desist from making any prejudicial statements. The case was instituted by the Attorney General of the Federation and not any other party and as such all legal curtsey's must by acknowledged. The CBN knows this, why do they not wait to be invited to be witnesses in the case? this would be the respectable course of action rather that taking the place of the Judge and pronouncing on an ongoing case. Also remember that there must have been 'evidence' pointing to the culpability of Spring Bank in this issue or the Police would not have had the gall to proffer this case. Let us all have open minds and wait for the verdict. I still believe that the judiciary is the most credible institution in Nigeria and that justice will prevail in this case,

hmmm

u seem to know what ure talking about

Nice one