How bank funded Akingbola’s foreign exchange transaction –EFCC

Posted by admin EFCC Politics Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday alleged that money belonging to Intercontinental Bank Plc (now Access Bank Plc) was used to fund a purchase of foreign exchange by former Managing Director of the bank, Dr. Erastus Akingbola.

Counsel for the EFCC, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, alleged that the series of transactions leading to the foreign exchange involving N2.1bn was through purported borrowing arrangements.

Ukala made this allegation while cross-examining the second defence witness in Akingbola’s ongoing trial, Mr. Thomas Ayodele, at a Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

The foreign exchange involving N2.1bn is part of the theft charge preferred against Akingbola along with Mr. Bayo Dada, General Manager of Tropics Finance Limited.

Ukala alleged that a subsidiary of the bank, the Intercontinental Bank Capital Market Limited, purportedly borrowed N3.5bn from the bank in order to meet a placement (fund) request by Regal Investment, which was said to have then granted a N2.1bn loan to Akingbola.

Ukala queried the rationale behind the need for the ICML to borrow N3.5bn from the bank to meet Regal Investment’s 3.2bn request when the ICML was having N4.8bn as at the time of receiving Regal Investment’s request.

Ukala asked Ayoola, a former MD of ICML, “You have said ICML was having N4.8bn. With that amount you would have been able to meet N3.2bn request by Regal Investment?”

“I suggest to you that you took the N3.5bn to meet the N3.2bn placement you granted to Regal Investment,” he added.

Ayoola denied the claim that the N3.5bn ICML took from the bank was specifically to fund the loan granted to Regal Investment.

He said, “That is not true. We took the N3.5bn because we still needed some level of liquidity; we still needed to have some money in reserve.”

-Punchwp_posts