EFCC Witness Tightens Fraud Case Against Ex-AMCON Boss

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented its fourth prosecution witness, PW4, Bawa Usman Kaltungo, in the ongoing trial of a former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, over an alleged N76bn and $31.5m fraud before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.

Kuru, alongside Kamilu Alaba Omokide, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, and Super Bravo Limited, is being prosecuted on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, and abuse of office.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Union Bank Nigeria Plc, sometime in 2011 or thereabouts, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intention of causing and/or inducing unwarranted sale of Arik Air loans and bank guarantees with Union Bank, made false statements to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) regarding Arik Air Limited’s performing loans, following which you transferred a bogus figure of N71,000,000,000.00 (Seventy-One Billion Naira) to AMCON.”

Another count reads: “That you, Ahmed Lawal, Kuru, Kamilu Alaba Omokide as Receiver Manager of Arik Air Limited, and Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air Limited in Receivership, sometime in 2022 or thereabouts, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, fraudulently converted to the use of NG Eagle Limited the total sum of N4,900,000,000.00 (Four Billion Nine Hundred Million Naira only), property of Arik Air Limited.”

An operative of the EFCC detailed the Commission’s findings from its investigation into transactions involving Arik Air, Union Bank, AMCON, and several foreign lenders.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu, SAN, Kaltungo told the court that documents obtained from Union Bank and foreign lenders showed that the bank acted only as a guarantor for aircraft purchases by Arik Air, contrary to claims that it issued loan facilities to the airline.

He stated that a Union Bank official, one Omokaro, confirmed to investigators that the bank never issued any loan offer letter to Arik Air.

He stated that the minutes of a meeting held on February 4, 2011, in London also showed that Union Bank acknowledged that Arik’s foreign loans were performing and serviced as and when due.

He further testified that a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official, who signed a directive on the sale of non-performing loans, clarified that the directive did not apply to foreign loans or guarantees, thereby contradicting Union Bank’s submissions to AMCON.

The witness further stated that the EFCC found out that Union Bank “could not justify” the N71 billion it transferred to AMCON.

He added that the bank made false representations by classifying performing foreign loans as non-performing.

EFCC Witness Tightens Fraud Case Against Ex-AMCON Boss is first published on The Whistler Newspaper