The boards of directors and chief executives of the banks were invited to a meeting on Wednesday, January 10 where they were addressed for 30 minutes each by the apex bank’s Deputy Governor in charge of Financial System Stability, Phillip Ikeazor.

Three other governors formed the panel that addressed the bank executives. They include the Deputy Governor in charge of Operations, Emem Usoro, the Deputy Governor in charge of Economic Policy, Muhammad Abdullahi and the Deputy Governor in charge of Corporate Services, Bala Bello.

The panel reeled out issues of non-compliance and other infractions committed by the affected banks and then formally sacked the boards.

This followed the recent report of the Special Investigator on Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele as the Governor and Related entities, Jim Obazee.

Earlier, the special investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu, invited the investors in Titan Trust Bank, but they reportedly refused to honour the invitation to a meeting with the Special Investigator.

The Central Bank of Nigeria issued an official statement via its X Handle:

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This summon, according to this report, is in connection with the acquisition of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc by Titan Trust Bank.

The TTB chairman, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was directed to report at the Department of Force Intelligence opposite the Force headquarters, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja on Thursday, December 28 where he is expected to be questioned over the UBN acquisition.

Lemo was further instructed to come along with the promoters of Titan Trust Bank, Messrs Cornelius Vink and Mr Rahul Savara, to meet with the team of special Investigators.

Lemo was invited in a letter dated December 24, 2023, and signed by the Head of Operations, Office of the Special Investigator, DCP Eloho Okpoziakpo.

Obazee had in his report alleged that some persons were used as proxies by a former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank.

Obazee, who was appointed special investigator in July, 2023, submitted his final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences) to the Presidency on December 20, 2023.

In two separate reports on the acquisition of UBN and Keystone Bank submitted to President Bola Tinubu last Wednesday, the Special Investigator also alleged that Emefiele used proxies to acquire Keystone Bank without evidence of payment.

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He was indicted by the special investigator commissioned by President Bola Tinubu to investigate into the activities of the apex bank during Emefiele’s term.

According to the report, Emefiele used proxies to acquire Union Bank of Nigeria for Titan Trust Bank Limited, as well as Keystone Bank without any evidence of payment.

As a result, it recommends that the Federal Government should reverse the sale of the banks and also take them over.

The special investigator, Jim Obazee, had on Wednesday submitted the report of his investigations into the acquisition of Union Bank and Keystone Bank to President Bola Tinubu in two separate letters dated December 20, 2023.

This is coming on the heels of findings by the investigator that Emefiele illegally lodged billions of naira in foreign currencies in no fewer than 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and China without the approval of the apex bank’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee.

Obazee found out that the ex-CBN governor lodged £543,482,213 in fixed deposits in UK banks alone without authorisation.

Emefiele, who is currently in the Kuje Custodial Centre, is being prosecuted for N1.2bn procurement fraud.

Obazee, who was appointed special investigator in July, submitted his final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences)’ to the President on Wednesday.

He had earlier submitted an interim report on the probe of the CBN and related entities on December 9.

In his letters to the President, Obazee said he had completed his investigation into the illegal acquisition of Union Bank by Titan Bank, and was on the verge of recovering the two banks for the Federal Government.

He stated in his letter to the President, “When we carried out the investigation, we discovered that some persons were used as proxies by Mr Godwin Emefiele to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank therefrom, all from ill-gotten wealth.

“We were able to secure some documents and investigation reports will lead to the forfeiture of the two banks to the Federal Government. We have completed our investigation on this acquisition and have also held meetings with the relevant parties except for Mr Cornelis Vink, who is currently hospitalised in Switzerland.

“Otherwise, we are on the verge of recovering these two banks for the Federal Government.”

During the probe into the UBN acquisition supervised by the Emefiele-led CBN, Obazee explained that he requested the apex bank to furnish him with the details of the deal.

Findings indicate Titan Trust Bank sought the CBN’s no-objection to its proposed consolidation with UBN, excluding its United Kingdom operations via a letter dated October 25, 2021.

In the letter, TTB stated that the consolidation was being contemplated in four phases via acquisition of 91.5 per cent of the issued shares of UBN; mandatory tender offer for the remaining UBN shares; buyout of any share that were not voluntarily sold to TTB on the MTO; and merger of TTB and UBN with UBN as the surviving entity.

The TTB letter also stated that the consolidation was to be funded via a combination of debt and equity.

The CBN in a letter dated March 9, 2022 granted no-objection to TTB’s requests to obtain a $300m facility from Afrexim Bank as well as capital injection of $175m from two existing shareholders of TTB, Luxis International DMCC and Magna International DMCC.

The TTB, via a letter dated June 3, 2022, informed the CBN that it made the payment of the purchase consideration to the selling shareholders on June 1, 2022, and thus completed the acquisition of 93.41 per cent of the issued shares of UBN.

According to the investigator, the TTB sought approval for the mandatory takeover of the remaining 6.59 per cent of UBN shares vide a letter dated October 14, 2022.

The MTO was reportedly triggered by the successful acquisition of 93.41 per cent of the UBN shares and TTB was granted a no-objection to acquire the remaining 6.59 per cent shares through a letter dated October 24, 2022.

On November 2, 2022, the TTB officially launched the MTO, offering to acquire the remaining shares and the MTO concluded with the TTB purchasing an additional 0.64 per cent of the issued shares of UBN, thus bringing its total shareholding to 94.05 per cent.

To approve a scheme arrangement between itself and the holders of the balance of 5.95 per cent shares not yet bought by the TTB following an order of the Federal High Court, the UBN convened a meeting on June 13, 2023.

This was expected to result in the transfer of the outstanding UBN shares to TTB.

The investigation report noted, “The process to acquire the remainder of 5.95 per cent of the issued share capital of UBN by TTB is ongoing through a court-ordered scheme of arrangement between itself and the holders of the balance of 5.95 per cent.

“TTB stated that its ultimate objective is to acquire 100 per cent of the total outstanding shares of UBN.”

Further investigation showed that TTB is owned by Luxis International DMCC and Magna International DMCC, said to be based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The two firms were said to be owned by Vink Corporation Middle East FZC, which is controlled by Cornelis Vink.

However, efforts to verify the corporate status of Luxis and Magna in Dubai failed as they did not have a physical presence in the Arab country as claimed.

“This contravenes Section 3(5) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020. Accordingly, they are not supposed to be allowed to operate or acquire a bank in Nigeria,” the report declared.

It stated, “The special investigator probed the activities of the TTB and discovered that there is a mysterious shareholder who has given interest-free long-term loan to (with no fixed repayment schedule) to the entities mentioned above (Luxis International DMCC and Magna International DMCC). This mysterious shareholder is believed to be Mr Godwin Emefiele. [Details: Source]

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