Adesuwa Ezenwa, a former employee of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, has leveled allegations of substantial fraud against billionaire industrialist Oba Otudeko, who served as the Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc, the bank’s parent company, according to PREMIUM TIMES
Bisi Onasanya, who was the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at the time, was also implicated in the allegations.
Mrs. Ezenwa, who was summarily dismissed by the bank in October 2016, has taken legal action against First Bank at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Judicial Division. She is seeking redress for the termination of her appointment, which she claims was done “without any reason whatsoever being offered.”
The ex-First Bank employee is seeking N500 million in compensation and N25 million to cover legal expenses, among other things.
In court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, Mrs Ezenwa alleged that the bank’s Credit Disciplinary Committee made her bear the brunt of granting unsecured loan facilities worth billions of naira to companies in which Mr Otudeko and Mr Onasanya had substantial investments, while her superiors who approved and granted the credit were not so penalised.
She said she joined the bank on 27 May 2002 and became a Relationship Manager in the Corporate Banking Division of First Bank in February 2016. According to a court paper, in 2010, Mrs Ezenwa worked under the supervision of Abiodun Olatunji, her Branch Manager at the Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island Branch of the bank, and under her group head, Cecilia Majekodunmi.
The document mentioned that Mr. Olatunji was later promoted to Group Head, and Mrs. Majekodunmi assumed the role of Executive Vice President, collaborating closely with and reporting to Mr. Onasanya.
“As a relationship manager, I worked under the supervision and direction of my branch manager and group head and signed official correspondence only after they had approved and/or signed same. I had no independent authority in relation to the grant or disbursement of loans or other banking facilities,” Mrs Ezenwa said.
The claimant stated that she signed numerous documents during her tenure at First Bank, but only after obtaining approval from her superiors and following their instructions.
She said she was summoned on 25 August 2015 to appear before a Credit Disciplinary Committee reviewing facilities availed to a company known as Supply and Services Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Ceramics Group, one of the major customers of the bank.
The plaintiff contended that the committee was unable to ascertain whether she had a personal stake in any of the approved loans or if she had benefited in any way from her responsibilities. She stated that she was criticized for not reporting certain deals endorsed by Mr. Olatunji and Mrs. Majekodunmi, despite not being directly involved in them.
“The admonition was most unfair and unwarranted as I was in no position to whistleblow on my superiors … The persons to whom these reports would have been made were the very persons who were the perpetrators of the misdeeds,” she said.
A litany of allegations against Mr Otudeko
Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that unsecured loans of roughly N12 billion were availed, on one occasion, to a company in which Mr Otudeko has significant investment even though the facility was masked as loans granted to Stallion Group of Companies, which later spotted the false entry in its statement of account and complained.
In one case in 2012, she further alleged, an unsecured credit estimated at N2 billion was granted to Broadwaters Resources Company Nigeria Limited, which ended up being a conduit pipe used by Mrs Majekodunmi and Mr Onasanya to siphon monies from the bank. The claimant said the loan was never repaid.
“Out of the N12 billion camouflaged as lending to the Stallion Group, N8.21 billion was transferred through various accounts to a final destination account belonging to a company known as V-TECH LTD, which belongs to the Chairman of FBN Holdings, Oba Otudeko, while the sum of N4.45 billion out of the same fictitious facility was transferred to Ontario Oil and Gas. The facility remains unpaid to date,” Mrs Ezenwa said in court fillings.
According to her, several similar loans were granted by Mr Olatunji and Mrs Majekodunmi, including to Supplies and Services Limited, which were “subsequently sublet and disbursed in smaller bits to several customers on more profitable terms to both officers.”
Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc, Orbit Cargo, Netconstruct Nigeria Limited, and High-Performance Distributions Limited were among the companies named as beneficiaries of the loan disbursement.
Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that such loans could not have been granted without the involvement of the Board of First Bank, considering that the amounts involved were huge and above the approval limits of the Executive Directors, the Vice President and the Managing Director of the bank.
According to the complainant, her dismissal by the bank brought her into disrepute, threatening her chances of securing employment in reputable companies in future.
“The action of the defendant (First Bank) has consequently caused the claimant untold mental distress and is all the more damaging as the claimant is in her thirties and has simply been made a scapegoat for the malfeasance of some of the lapses of the management of the bank,” she said.
Among other demands, Mrs Ezenwa is urging the court to declare that there was no basis for the bank to dismiss her.
“She is being made a scapegoat for a lot of questionable transactions within the bank, which she is claiming innocent of,” Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant’s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday. “So far, the trial has started. We have subpoenaed the EFCC, and we have subpoenaed the central bank to bring the audit reports of the bank,” Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant’s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES.
