• CBN compiles list of bank directors owing outrageous loans to their banks, to sack culprits soon
• Apex bank inquisition causes senior bankers to panic
By Ugochi Ndukwe
The relationship between a Nigerian bank chief and his bank is akin to a game which a sharper plays with a dupe, entitled ‘Heads I win, tails you lose.’ There is no gainsaying some Nigerian bank chiefs are crooks.
Many Chairmen, Managing Directors (MDs) and Executive Directors of Nigerian banks flaunt the deportment of ethical saints but beneath their skin and righteous mien, they are unrepentant crooks.
At the backdrop of recent revelations of scandalous exploits of local bank MDs, often in connivance with criminal masterminds among top ranking officers of the immediate past administration, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched an investigation into local banks’ operations and activities of presiding bank chiefs.
The investigation, to the consternation of the apex bank, revealed shameful truths about the nation’s bank chiefs.
At the end of the exercise, many bank directors were found to be responsible for their banks’ major financial woes.
Besides masterminding several fraudulent internal and external transactions, many bank Chairmen, MDs and EDs are owing their banks outrageous loans which have turned into bad debts. These loans are not serviced by the bank directors nor do they have any intention of refunding the scandalous sums they borrowed from their banks.
Further investigations revealed that loans owed to some banks by individual directors amount to hundreds of billions of naira. This constitutes great strains on the banks’ capital and other resources thus plunging the banks into abysmal financial woes.
Major culprits are repeat offenders who are currently embroiled in scandals tantamount to advance fee fraud, money laundering and outright embezzlement of public fund in conspiracy with corrupt public officers. Many of them have been quietly sneaking to the offices of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to refund money misappropriated by them in collaboration with former public officers currently cooling their heels in EFCC custody.
The Capital findings revealed that the affected directors and chairmen are currently running helter-skelter to bribe the CBN officers in charge of the investigation to keep their names of the list of culprits that will be divulged to the media and general public but the CBN taskforce is doing its best to resist their very tantalizing ‘offers.’