The sacked governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele allegedly used proxies and purchased Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN), a report by Jim Obazee, the special investigator appointed by President Bola has shown.

The late Alhaji Ismaila Isa Funtua, an ally of former President Muhammadu Buhari, was also fingered alongside Emefiele in the acquisition of Keystone Bank and Polaris Bank.

The acquisitions were carried out separately over time as seen in the report submitted to President Tinubu on December 20, 2023.

Daily Trust Saturday got access to some of the documents through credible sources as the report has not been made public yet.

It was on July 30, 2023 that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Obazee, the chief executive officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria as the special investigator.


The Union Bank acquisition

In the report seen by our reporter, the detailed stages followed to acquire the Union Bank, one of the first generation financial institutions in Nigeria, were contained in a memo to President Tinubu, titled, “Report of the Investigation of the Acquisition of Union Bank of Nigeria by Titan Trust Bank.”

The special investigator had requested the CBN to provide his team with all relevant documents, and from what he got, the name of Titan Trust Bank (TTB) was seen as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the acquisition.

According to the report, in the documents from the apex bank, it was found that TTB had in a letter of October 25, 2021, sought CBN’s no-objection to its proposed consolidation with Union Bank excluding its UK operations.

This, the letter noted, should be in four phases: the acquisition of 91.5 per cent of the issued shares of the UBN; Mandatory Tender Offer (MTO) for the remaining shares of the UBN; buyout of any share not voluntarily sold to TTB on the MTO; and merger of TTB and UBN with UBN as the surviving entity.

It also stated that consolidation was to be funded via a combination of debt and equity, and CBN via letters dated March 3 and 9, 2022, which granted no objections to TTB’s request to obtain a $300,000,000 facility from Afrexim Bank, as well as capital injection of $175,000,000 from two existing shareholders of TTB; Messrs Luxis International DMCC and Magna International DMCC, all purportedly operating from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

And the TTB, via a letter dated June 3, 2022, informed the CBN that it had made the payment of the purchase consideration to the selling shareholders on June 1, 2022, and had thus successfully completed the acquisition of 93.4 per cent of the issued shares of the Union Bank.

The investigator stated in his report to the president that, “When carrying out our investigation, we discovered that some persons were used as proxies by Mr Godwin Emefiele to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank, all from ill-gotten wealth. We were able to secure some documents, and investigation reports will lead to the forfeiture of the two banks by the federal government.

“We have completed our investigation on this acquisition and have also held meetings with relevant parties except for Mr Cornelius Vink (currently hospitalised in Switzerland). We are on the verge of recovering these two banks for the federal government,” the document showed.


Acquisition of Keystone Bank

In another finding titled, “Report of the Investigation of the Acquisition of Keystone Bank,” submitted by the special investigator to President Tinubu, it was stated that after due diligence, it was discovered that some persons were used as proxies with the connivance and assistance of Emefiele and the CBN to acquire the bank without evidence of payment.

It stated, “AMCON MD moved N20billion to Heritage Bank as placement sometime in 2010. On the back of that, Heritage Bank granted a loan of N25billion to the promoters of Isa Funtua/Emefiele group’s acquisition vehicles to buy Keystone Bank.

“The loan was further backed by the shareholders of the bank. Upon acquisition, Keystone Bank returned the N20bn back to Heritage Bank as placement. Thereafter, Heritage Bank repaid AMCON from the cash flow created.

“When the loan granted by Heritage Bank to Isa Funtua/Emefiele’s acquisition vehicles matured with outstanding balance, the MD of Heritage Bank (which was then in serious liquidity crisis), called for repayment. Unfortunately for the shareholders of the bank, the Isa Funtua/Emefiele Group could not repay.

“Consequently, the MD of Heritage got his lawyers to write to the bank on two occasions, threatening to take over Keystone Bank based on the shares they had pledged as security.

“After much pressure from him, Keystone Bank created internal loans of about N50bn between June and October 2019 and moved the proceeds to repay Heritage Bank on behalf of their group. However, the MD of the bank at that time had resigned due to consistent pressure from him and the shareholders to comply. The internal loans so created are not being serviced and have gone bad.

“The special investigator has commenced the interrogation of the MD of AMCON to clarify the situation of the acquisition of Keystone banks beside Arik Air, Aero Contractors and the financial reporting by AMCON,” it stated.

The document showed that the investigator would continue the interrogation of the AMCON MD yesterday, December 22, 2023; and based on preliminary report, Keystone was acquired for free

On the issue of Union Bank acquisition, our correspondent last night tried to hear from the officials but was not successful.

However, after insider information in June this year, Daily Trust also wrote to Mrs Olufunmi Aluko, Head, Corporate Communication, Union Bank, to provide some clarification on the transaction surrounding the acquisition of the bank by Titan Bank.

This was before the appointment of the special investigator on happenings in the CBN.

Specifically, one of our reporters sought to know the core investors or individuals behind the acquisition, but unfortunately, that enquiry has not been answered.
Keystone banks have not yet reacted to the report.

https://dailytrust.com/how-emefiele-used-proxies-to-buy-union-keystone-polaris-banks/

Emefiele is stealing banks. Buying banks with phantom payments. What a wonderment !


Emefiele is a financial terrorist ans should serve ten life times behind bar

Chaii

richeeyo:
Some tribe once dey reach the top they always leave a dirty mark
Another one dey prison for uk
Another woman wa ruin our economy too dey uk
And dem go dey shout maginazation

So Emefiele is igbo today??

I didn't know Anioma/ika of delta state are igbos...wonderful

richeeyo:

But you people want to join dem with Biafra
Confused sets

But according to you they're igbos...why are you so confused and double mouthed

Green Card for prison

If it was someone with some level of innocence that is raising these accusations, then it would have mattered...

BossGerald:


So Emefiele is igbo today??

I didn't know Anioma/ika of delta state are igbos...wonderful

But you people want to join dem with Biafra
Confused sets

Emefiele is a product of the corrupt system and type of governance a good number of Nigerians have come to enjoy, protect and adore.

A system that enriches the few politicians and make the masses poorer. A system that encourages disregard for the rue of law by both the elite and judicial apparatus.

A system that is rotten to the core and seriously in danger of collapse.

A system that pushes its citizens to seek better opportunities abroad rather than stay to suffer and die in the leadership of the clueless morons that have being leading us from time immemorial. Nigeria is f*cked and will continue to be for a longtime. It didn't start with Elfiemele and he definitely won't be the last.

I come in peace, don't waste time mentioning me I rarely reply. Cheers

Emefiewele chosen as the fall guy for Buhari's 8years

Scapegoat

scapegoat
/ˈskeɪpɡəʊt/
noun
1.
a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.
Similar:
whipping boy
victim
Aunt Sally
goat
fall guy
patsy
2.
(in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).

Diezani was Jonathan's own

HANG HIM.How I wish nah North Korea.i kuku TRUST that SHORT baba

Democracy is not working in Nigeria, I hope it would work one day

More annoying is that nothing would happen.

richeeyo:
Some tribe once dey reach the top they always leave a dirty mark
Another one dey prison for uk
Another woman wa ruin our economy too dey uk
And dem go dey shout maginazation

People like you remain the reason for Nigeria's optimum backwardness, you can't even spell simple words correctly

I can understand it's a crime buying the banks (or anything else for that matter) from ill-gotten wealth.
However what I need clarification for is this: is it ethically or legally wrong to buy a bank in distress if you are the CBN Governor, assuming you plan to follow due process?

Emefiele really played an Abacha on us yet buhari kept quiet because he was fighting tinibu. Is it tinibus money that was stolen now? Useless people

Big Thief

After all these media brouhaha Mr. Emefele wouldn't still be burnt at a stake, confined to the gallows, sentenced for life or made to have a taste hand of justice... Rubbish!

They are all the same. Let another investigator investigate others let’s see if they will all be clean. Make dem getat jare!

Tired of Emefiele news. How many months ll.it take to convict him and that person that authorized his naira redesign?

This warri guy wan finish Nigeria o ..no be small o ..🤔

Lol.... Make una leave me jaree.... Pikin weh people hate suppose deh use him head Wella..... A south south man living large and dining with Buhari, Isa funtua and the rest and still feeling fly. If he was from South East , S.W, N.C, NW. The pressure won't be this much on him.... If you're a politician and you come from NE, S.S and even N.C seff. Just be careful on how you carry Nigerian issues. Nobody will save you......

Yet he's being rumoured released Then again it's Nigeria, so it's water off a duck's back.

We are only blaming Emiefele, whereas e have a President, the C in C.
The president himself came out on live Tv that there is no going back on Emiefiele policy.

in a saner clime buhari should have an apartment beside emifiele in prison, but no the current admiration his playing politics, playing the blaming game, instead of doing what he was elected for, same thing buhari did for 8years blaming the previous administration before him.

Get to work Oga

richeeyo:
Some tribe once dey reach the top they always leave a dirty mark
Another one dey prison for uk
Another woman wa ruin our economy too dey uk
And dem go dey shout maginazation

While some tribes know how to kill innocent people up north

Corporate governance is zero in keystone and heritage bank.

These are mere speculations and propaganda to call the dog a bad name so that it can be hanged just like what Abacha did to OBJ, Gen. Yaradua and the rest in 1995 (like PBAT like Abacha ) . If PMB and his cabals/cousins are not prosecuted then PBAT is only witch-hunting Emefiele because he stood a presidential contest against him and refused to step down at BAT's will. After all, the scarcity of cash that brought this upon Emefiele is reoccurring as we speak despite the ousting of Emefiele as CBN governor.
There is more to Emefiele's arrest but APC is more of a fraternity than a political party . PBAT and the current CBN governor should address why the scarcity of cash is resurfacing

the bald head vulture RUINED the economy to 0.1%

Interesting.
Abeg make dem list people wey aid am join. He can't do this alone.

E be like say Emefile will be the millennium Abacha