News
FAAN Paralyses Arik Air Operations Over N2bn Debt
L-R: Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mrs Iyabo Obasa, Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Taofeek Tijani and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Lateef Ibirogba, at a news conference on activities of the ministry in the last one year, in Lagos, last Tuesday. Photo: NAN
The operations of Arik Air was yesterday paralysed by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in what the orgainsation described as high indebtedness by the airline.
The Tide learnt that FAAN had written several letters to the airline to pay the over N2billion debt for services rendered to the airline but the correspondences were ignored by Arik management.
The grounding of the airlines operations yesterday caused serious disappointment to passengers at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, as travelers, who had arrived to catch their 8.45am flights waited endlessly for hours.
The situation was made worse as the Port Harcourt office claimed not to be aware of the cause of the flight delay, and merely announced the delay to be due to operational reasons.
The Tide gathered that when the indefinite waiting became unbearable, passengers made contact with Abuja only to realize that the staff were merely misleading them and the outcome was rowdy situation which culminated in the refund of money to them.
A female passenger, who was visibly angry with Arik staff for concealing such information, almost assaulted the manager because the nearest flight to Abuja was for 7.15pm when her 4.00pm appointment in the Federal Capital City would have been over, as she would be flying abroad on Friday (today).
Other passengers, however, decided to go through Lagos before connecting Abuja with the corresponding expenditure and time wasting as the only Aero flight to Abuja had been fully booked.
Efforts by our correspondent to speak to Port Harcourt Arik Air manager was not successful as she claimed to be too busy attending to passengers and ordering the refund of certified payments.
The Head, Corporate Communications of FAAN at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Mr Ola Ogundolapo, told The Tide that the management of Arik Air had issues of none payment for services rendered to it by FAAN worth over N2.5billion and other agencies locally and overseas
Mr Ogundolapo also disclosed that the indigenous carrier had not paid staff for the past four months, adding that Arik management had been stubborn on issues of payment for services rendered by other orgainsations.
Another FAAN staff, told The Tide that Arik Air needed to be disciplined for its excesses, noting that what caused discovering air suspension that was only lifted about 24 hours before the Arik grounding was not as grave as what the airline was doing.
He predicted that going by the sign posts that are becoming noticeable, the airline may have a short life span in operation.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has indicted a new generation bank, six Fintechs and some microfinance banks in major financial scams by allowing fraudsters to launder huge sums of money.
Director of public Affairs of the Commission, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, made this known at a press briefing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.
According to him, the compromised institutions allegedly allowed cryptocurrency transactions worth N162 billion to pass through without proper due diligence within the 2024/2025 financial year.
He said that the financial institutions clearly compromised banking procedures and allowed the fraudsters to safely change their ill-gotten gains into digital assets and move them to safe destinations.
“A total sum of N18.1 billion was moved through the financial system without due diligence of customers by the banks.
“It is worrisome that investigations by the commission showed that cryptocurrency transactions to the tune of N162 billion passed through a new generation bank without any due diligence.
“Investigations showed that a single customer maintained 960 accounts in another new bank and all the accounts were used for fraudulent purposes.
“That is bad news but the good news is that following our intervention the commission has been able to recover N33.62 million, which has been returned to some of the victims.”
He explained that the scams were in two categories, adding that the first was a syndicate of fraudsters that employed an airline discount scheme to lure their victims.
He said that they advertised a discount system for the purchase of flight tickets of a particular foreign carrier.
“The payment module is designed in such a way that the victims’ payment is actually made into the account of the airline.
“After payment is made the passenger’s entire funds in his bank account are emptied.
“Investigations showed that more than 700 victims have been scammed so far, with a loss of N651 million,” he said.
According to him, investigations show that the scheme is being masterminded by a foreign national; the commission has so far recovered and released N33 million to victims of the fraud.
He said that another scheme involved a company named Fred and Farid Investment Limited, simply called FF investment, which lured Nigerians into a bogus investment arrangement.
“More than 200, 000 victims have been defrauded in this regard. A total sum of N18 billion was raked in through nine companies offering diverse investment packages.
“The companies are: Credio Banco Limited; Deliberty Rock Limited; Liam Chumeks Global Service; Ngwuoke Daniels Technology; and Icons Autos and Import Merchant.
“Others are : Newpace Technology Services Limited, Primepath Ways Ventures Limited, Kaka Synergy Network Limited and Sunlight Tech Hub Services Limited.”
He said that foreign nationals were behind the schemes, while there are three Nigerian accomplices who have been arrested and charged to court.
He said that the masterminds were on the run and efforts are being made to bring them to book.
“The Commission is calling on regulatory bodies to bring financial institutions to compulsory compliance with regulations in the areas of Know Your Customers (KYC), Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and others.
“Deposit Money Banks, Fintechs, Micro Finance Banks found to be aiding and abetting fraudsters should be suspended and referred to the EFCC for thorough investigation and possible prosecution.
“Negligence and failure to monitor suspicious and structured transactions by banks should no longer be allowed,” he said.
While cautioning members of the public to be wary of these actors, he said that the EFCC would continue its works against money laundering by fraudulent actors.
Uwujaren urged financial institutions to firm up their operational dynamics and save the nation leakages and compromises bleeding the economy.
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