The Special Investigator who had summoned Lemo, who is also a former deputy governor of the CBN, rejected Lemo’s request for an extension of time for shareholders to prove their ownership of Titan Trust Bank, insisting that Lemo and others summoned in a December 24 letter must appear to prove that their acquisition of Union Bank followed due process or risk losing the financial institution to the Nigerian government.
The office of Jim Obazee, the Special Investigator on the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the leadership of its former Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has insisted that the Chairman of Titan Trust Bank (TTB), Mr Tunde Lemo, Mr Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara must appear before it on Thursday over the acquisition of the Union Bank of Nigeria.
The Special Investigator who had summoned Lemo, who is also a former deputy governor of the CBN, rejected Lemo’s request for an extension of time for shareholders to prove their ownership of Titan Trust Bank, insisting that Lemo and others summoned in a December 24 letter must appear to prove that their acquisition of Union Bank followed due process or risk losing the financial institution to the Nigerian government.
SaharaReporters on Tuesday reported that the Special CBN Investigator in a letter dated December 24, 2023, signed by the Head of Operations, Office of the Special Investigator, DCP Eloho Okpoziakpo, directed Lemo to report at the Department of Force Intelligence, opposite the Force headquarters, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja on Thursday.
According to the letter obtained by SaharaReporters, Babatunde who is expected to be questioned over the UBN acquisition, was instructed to come along with the promoters of Titan Trust Bank, Mr Vink and Mr Savara, to meet with the team of special Investigators.
The letter directed all the summoned persons to “come along with all the documents/information requested from them by the letter to Mr Cornelius Vink dated 28th August 2023 (attached herewith as Appendix 1). You will also be required to make additional statements to your earlier statement on that day.
“Kindly note that if Messrs Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara refuse to attend this meeting and provide/defend the requested documents/information, it will be construed that they have decided to forfeit their purported shareholdings in TTB and Union Bank of Nigeria; irrespective of which vehicle that they are using to own the purported shares.
“Should you also refuse to attend the meeting to provide an additional statement to your earlier statement made in August 2023, it will be construed that you misled the Nigerian public with your reaction in the PUNCH Newspapers today which has gained wide publicity in both electronic and print media.”
SaharaReporters had also reported that the report of the Special Investigator showed that the former CBN governor, Emefiele, allegedly used his proxies to acquire the Union Bank.
The report further linked the late Alhaji Ismaila Isa Funtua, an ally of former President Muhammadu Buhari, alongside Emefiele to the acquisition of Keystone Bank and Polaris Bank.
According to the report, the acquisitions were carried out separately over time as seen in the report submitted to President Tinubu on December 20, 2023.
The Special Investigator said that it reached the conclusion following the failure of the purported shareholders to appear before its panel with the necessary documents to prove that they genuinely acquired the bank and recommended that the Nigerian government should take over the bank from the purported owner.
However, Lemo had in a widely circulated statement rejected the assertion by the Special Investigator, and asked the Special Investigator to give the shareholders seven days to prove their ownership of Titan Trust Bank and Union Bank of Nigeria with necessary documents, failure of which the two entities should be forfeited to the Federal Government.
PM News reports that contrary to the promise, lawyers for the purported shareholders in a letter dated December 27, 2023, said Lemo, Savara and Vink had travelled out of Nigeria and would not be available to honour the invitation of the Special Investigator until the second week of January 2024.
The legal firm, G. ELIAS also said it had submitted the documents requested by the Special Investigator to it on September 1, 2023, at the DSS HQ. The legal firm, however, said it was willing to resubmit the information on behalf of the invitees to the Special Investigator.
But in a swift response, the Special Investigator in a letter sent to Union Bank, reportedly insisted that Lemo must fulfil his pledge to attend a meeting scheduled for today (Thursday) as well as his proposal that Mr. Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara be given seven days to prove their purported ownership of Titan Trust Bank and Union Bank of Nigeria or forfeit the shares to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The letter was quoted as stating: “Accordingly, this excuse given by your good selves through your lawyers is unacceptable and regarded as obstruction of the Special Investigator in the course of his duties.”
It also noted that contrary to the claim of the legal firm, neither Lemo, Vink nor Savara ever submitted any of the requested documents to the investigating team.
“In fact, Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara have never presented themselves to the Special Investigator since 28th August 2023 when they were first invited for interview,” the letter added.
It also rejected the proposal of the legal firm to submit the documents on behalf of its shareholders.
The letter noted, “The Special Investigator also directs that you should be informed that documents submitted through proxies shall not be accepted as Mr. Cornelius Vink, Mr. Rahul Savara and your good self will be required to speak to whatever document(s)/information you present during the meeting.
“Consequently, I am to further inform you that your invitation to appear before the Special Investigator on 28th December 2023 by 2pm prompt in respect of the matter under investigation and for which you had earlier made statement; stands,” the Special Investigator added while warning that failure to honour the invitation may lead loss of the two banks to the FG.
“Kindly note that the conditions on paragraphs 6 to 8 in our earlier letter to you with reference number CR:3000/TSl/ABJ/VOL. 1/69 dated 24th December 2023 remains effective and shall be triggered if you or Messrs Vink and Savara fail to attend the meeting as scheduled.”