News
UK Freezes Erastus Akinghola’s Assets Globally
A United Kingdom Court in London has ordered a temporary forfeiture of all assets, both identified and unidentified, belonging to the wanted former group managing director and chief executive officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Mr. Erastus Akingbola.
The order, known, as Mareva order, covers all assets traceable to him globally, including his investments, cash in bank accounts and property, among others.
It was granted on December 23, 2009.
The order is used to preserve assets in a situation where there are fears that the other party in a case may waste or dissipate the assets in contention.
It was gathered that the temporary forfeiture order was jointly sought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the new management of Intercontinental Bank, following a tip-off that he was in the process of moving £3.3 million about N858 million from Isle of Man, an Island in the Caribbean to London.
His total investment in the Island is said to be about N12 billion.
The Island is known in the banking world as the safe haven for bankers to hide slush funds.
Before the move by the commission, Akingbola was alleged to have moved a huge sum of money from his investment in the Island to purchase some property in London.
In the Mareva order, which is now in the possession of the anti-corruption agency, property allegedly bought by Akingbola during the initial cash movement reportedly included houses on numbers 17, 18, 19, 20 on Finchey Road, London, as well as the property located at 26, Chesire Terrace, London.
EFCC, which is set for the implementation of the order, was said to have moved in particular for the all-covering order to stop Akingbola from dissipating the assets, which the commission claimed were proceeds of crime.
The commission was said to have convinced the court to grant the global order after it was able to provide evidence that he had initially moved monies from the Island to buy property in London.
In the charge filed against him in a Federal High Court in Lagos by the commission, which is being used to push for his extradition, the property traced to him were described as proceeds of the alleged crime he committed with shareholders’ funds, while at the bank.
Commission’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Baba-Femi could not be reached on his mobile phone for comments on the development.
Four top management staff of the bank arrested over another alleged N12 billion fraud involving Akingbola are still being detained on court order by the commission.
The affected top officers included Akin Fabunmi, Financial Controller; Toyin Odesilo, Head, Domestic Operations and Toyin Oyelade, Treasurer.
It was gathered that they allegedly removed N12 billion from the bank’s General Legal Account in November and gave some to Akingbola.
According to information from the commission, the affected bank top shots had in November moved N2 billion to a subsidiary of the bank {names withheld}, from where it was moved to a bureau de change where it was converted to Pounds Sterling and wired to Akingbola’s domiciliary account with the bank before it was finally wired to another account of his in the United Kingdom.
He was said to have successfully withdrawn the money before the commission was called into the alleged scam.
In the same month, another N10 billion was reportedly moved by the same people into the accounts of some companies owned by Akingbola domiciled with Access Bank Plc, before it was finally paid to Access Bank to defray the N10 billion debts Akingbola and his companies owed the bank.
Five non-executive directors of the bank were recently fingered in another alleged fresh N50 billion scam.
The money, which was said to have been shared among the five directors, was believed to be part of the missing N1 trillion in the sector.
It was gathered that while N1.2 billion was shared by the five former directors in March, 2008 as bonus, another N1.8 billion was shared among them in the same month.
The commission’s sustained investigation into the books of the troubled bank was said to have uncovered another fresh N31 billion allegedly laundered by Akingbola while at the helms of affairs in the bank.
In May 2009, the probe report stated that Akingbola allegedly used his own registered company, Tropics Properties Ltd, to launder over N13 billion investors’ funds.
The first payment made into Tropics account was N4.5 billion, the second being N4.4 billion, while the third was N4.06 billion.
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