Senate panel faults sale of Cecilia Ibru’s assets

 

Cecilia Ibru

The Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-corruption on Monday described as absurd, the process employed by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria to dispose of the assets of the former Managing Director of the defunct Oceanic Bank International Plc, Mrs. Cecilia Ibru.

A Nigerian, whose identity was not revealed, had petitioned the committee alleging that AMCON’s sale of the assets worth about N569.9bn, which Ibru forfeited to the Federal Government, was shrouded in secrecy.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Victor Lar, explained that Ibru, during the course of her prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, pleaded guilty and entered into a plea bargain to hand over all assets she acquired with depositors’ funds to the Federal Government.

Lar added that the petitioner alleged that Ibru was still in control of most of the assets and shares, and had even converted the United Kingdom branch of Oceanic Bank International to her personal use and changed it to Premiere United Capital without notifying other shareholders of the bank.

The petition read in part, “It is interesting to note that the handling of the plea bargain was fraught with anomalies and the handing over of assets and shares of Cecilia Ibru to AMCON and transfer to shareholders in Ecobank never took place.

“Due to poor administration of the recovery and implementation of the plea bargain, Cecilia Ibru still controls most of the assets and shares recovered under the plea bargain. Mrs. Ibru converted Oceanic Bank UK with assets and cash of over £15m to her personal use.

“She changed the name of Oceanic Bank UK to Premier European Capital, transferring all Oceanic Bank assets to the new company without the knowledge of the previous shareholders and directors of Oceanic Bank.

“She opened a trust fund and converted properties recovered to Cecilia Ibru Trust Fund, United States (11); Nigeria (51); Dubai (four); South Africa (one); 29 portfolios in different companies; and two aircraft worth over $100m on the fleet of Aero Contractors.”

A legal officer with the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Audu, told members of the panel that the anti-graft agency was not involved in the plea bargain because it was strictly between Ibru and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

Audu said, “Just as the petitioner rightly highlighted in his petition, investigation in the case of Ibru was conclusively done. There was a plea bargain, which was entered into between the government and Ibru.

“There is a court order in respect of that plea bargain. By the court order, AMCON was directed to manage all the properties that were confiscated. By that order, all the properties recovered from Ibru were transferred to AMCON for management. Nothing is with the EFCC.

“All the properties recovered from Ibru have been handed over to AMCON in accordance with the court order for management.”

The Executive Director, Ecobank Plc, Mr. Ibrahim Jafiya, told the panel that the bank took over the control of Oceanic Bank about two years after AMCON had effectively taken possession of its assets and liabilities.

Jafiya said the management of Ecobank was, therefore, not involved in the execution of the plea bargain.

The Acting Executive Commissioner in charge of operations at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Abatcha Bulama, also denied knowledge of the sale of Ibru’s shares on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange following the plea bargain.

The Deputy Governor, Financial Sector Systems Sustainability, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Okwu Nnanna, said the bank ended its involvement after handling over Oceanic Bank to AMCON.

“We do not supervise dead banks, we concentrate our activities only on the living banks,” he said.

The Acting Managing Director of AMCON, Mrs. Foluke Dosunmu, admitted that Ibru’s assets, based on the contents of the plea bargain as contained in an official gazette, were forfeited to AMCON but were not to be managed by the agency.

She said, “AMCON acquired over 12,000 non-performing loans between 2009 and 2010. The first set of funds that were paid to Oceanic Bank was N150bn in the purchase of non-performing loans.

“The second set of funds paid to Oceanic Bank was N336bn in respect of depositors’ funds that had been eroded by the illicit use of funds within that institution.”

The Senate panel queried the AMCON boss over the process adopted in the sale of the assets and why she had failed to enter into fresh litigation to recover the N16.1bn worth of shares currently held by Ibru and others outside the country.

Dosunmu’s response that AMCON did not advertise Ibru’s assets for sale but approved by its board, infuriated the chairman of the panel, who described the process of disposal as absurd even as he demanded the list of all properties yet to be sold.

Lar said, “It will be criminal for the same person who forfeited properties to still reacquire the properties. We want to know the process of disposal of these properties; did you follow that procedure, did you advertise the process?

“Because the petitioner is alleging that the same person has bought the properties. Tell us who bought these properties. The process has to be seen to be transparent.

“Was the sale advertised or it was a secret selection of bidders? The Senate was just finding out about the disposal of the properties and was not initially aware. Also, the general public is not aware as well.”