Following Monday’s allegations and accusations of financial imprudence made by the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Arunma Oteh levelled on former Director-General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, Prof. Ndi Okereke Onyiuke,  the former DG of NSE appeared before the panel yesterday to defend herself against some of the allegations.

She also provided a way forward for the present administrators of the SEC and NSE.

In her earlier statement, Okereke-Onyuike accused the CBN merger loans of being the main reasons why the capital market was in a state of comatose.

She said, “the merger loans given to most of the commercial banks have cost the present mess faced by the capital market”.

She further said that many of the fictitious private companies registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission saw the capital market as a money making avenue for themselves, and tried to exploit individuals and innocent investors in the market.

However, she highlighted some major points on how the market could get back to its glorious days of market booming.

“I wish to state that some of the ways which the market can get its confidence back in the mind of investors are as follows: appointment of the market makers which must include a public enlightenment because the stock market is the barometer of the economy of any country.

Secondly, merger of stock brokering firms, as this will make them stronger because most of them are too weak to stand alone, thirdly, the e-dividend and e-certificates should be encouraged so that they can be properly kept and protected.

She further said that the setting up of another government’s agency to monitor unclaimed dividends and certificates should be discouraged as this would bring about over-lapping of duties.

Prof.Okereke-Onyiuke also said that the SEC should have developmental functions and not just police offenders but enlighten them while the SEC should be adequately funded by the Federal Government. She concluded by adding that Value Added Tax placed on shareholders should be abolished.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Arunma Oteh failed to appear before the panel yesterday, giving a written excuse in which she asked for the permission of the House probe panel to allow her to attend an economic summit being chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.

But in a swift response, the chairman of the probe panel, Hon. Ibrahim El-Sudi, ordered her to appear before the panel unfailingly by 10am today or the law will be used against her.

Oteh had on Monday at the resumed probe, reeled out series of cases of recklessness in the running of the SEC under the watch of Okereke-Onyuike.

Meanwhile, former Director- General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Prof. Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, came under hammer on Monday at the resumed probe into the various malpractices that led to the collapse of the capital market.

D-G of the commission, Mrs. Arunmah Oteh, whose statements culminated in the dissolution of the initial probe panel in the House of Representatives, spilled it all as she left no one in doubt on the various criminal acts that got underway under the nose of the former DG.

In what amounted to a glaring abuse of positions, criminal diversion of funds and extravagant disbursement of funds, Oteh revealed that high-level transactions breached all rules known to the financial sector.

In many of the shady deals involving banks, Oteh accused her predecessor of allowing fraud under her watch.

Oteh said in one of the instances, “”Between August 2006 and December 2008, the Executive team of Finbank engaged six law firms to incorporate 95 companies and transferred more than 425 billion of depositors’ funds to nine of these companies, and purchased 2.8 billion units of its own shares against SEC rules.

“Between June 2007 and December 2008, Intercontinental Bank (now under Access Bank), its directors and principal officers engaged in unlawful share buyback schemes, buying about 3.4 billion units of shares using depositors’ funds. It violated Section 105, 106 and Section 110 of ISA 2007 as well as Section 160 of CAMA and Rule 109b of SEC Rules.

“Then, in 2007, Union Bank borrowed amounts totalling £430.4billion from two foreign investment banks. The funds were transferred to Union Trustees, which in turn transferred the funds to Falcon Securities. In four days in November 2007, Falcon purchased 620.4million units of shares worth $430.8 billion ahead of a public offer/rights issue.

“In 2007, Falcon Securities carried out 181,088 transactions with respect to Union Bank shares. This drove up the share price of Union Bank stocks from a low of $423.30 in January 2007 to £450.33 in November 2007, in other words, a price appreciation of over 110% within 11 months.

Lamenting further, Oteh said, “these were the kinds of financial imprudence that were perpetrated at the NSE.” ”

Narrating how the SEC spent huge funds on wasteful ventures, Oteh accused the Okereke-Onyuike-led SEC of purchasing 165 Rolex watches for N186million which were presented as gifts to awardees.

She disclosed that out of the 165, only 73 were given out while the remaining expensive gifts had remained unaccounted for till date.

At Monday’s sitting, it appeared that Oteh struggled to caution herself against statements that could cause further tension at the new probe panel having forced the House to appoint a new panel after her allegation of bribery against the former one led by Hon. Ihembe.