The Managing Director Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Namdi Okonkwo, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly helping former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke to launder $115 million cash.
Okonkwo , according to sources in the commission, had deployed his bank as a conduit for the distribution of money for the 2015 elections , especially the money used in influencing some electoral officers.
The Fidelity Bank chief was taken into EFCC custody three days ago for presiding over the receipt of such huge cash and helping to distribute it to beneficiaries two days to the last general elections.
The fraud was uncovered when the EFCC began investigations into how officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom states received N675.1m.
The source said that it was at the course of investigations that commission invited the MD, who subsequently confessed that during the build-up to the presidential election, Diezani invited him to a meeting in Abuja, where she told him that some companies would deposit some funds in his bank and that she would give him further instructions on how the funds would be disbursed.
According to source, the MD disclosed that the first company, Auctus Integrated, deposited $17,884,000 into the bank; the second one, Northern Belt Gas Company, deposited $60m while another company, Midwestern Oil and Gas, deposited $9.5m, while the fourth company, Leno Laitan Adesanya, deposited $1.85m.
Diezani on her part personally lodged $26 million cash into the same account same day.
The instructions and the list as to how the cash would distributed were furnished the MD by was Diezani’s son, Ugonna, according to our source..
When the MD complained about the inherent difficulty in convert such huge amount of dollars into naira within a short period of time, Diezanni appealed to him to to use every available cash to pay the beneficiaries and use the Dollar as collateral.
The beneficiaries of the funds included INEC officials and several interest groups as well as election monitors, who were expected to compromise the electoral process.
“The MD said it was Diezani’s son that sent him a list of beneficiaries which included several INEC officials and election monitors across the 36 states. Diezani specifically instructed that the funds be disbursed at least a day or two before the elections. The total amount of money was $115m and Diezani told the bank to convert the funds into naira, which was about N23.3bn at the time, the source further disclosed.
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of not remitting humongous amount of money estimated at over $20 billion to the Federation Account in about 20 months up to 2013.
Diezani was Minister of Petroleum at that time. She is among the long list of officials under President Goodluck administration which are believed to have misappropriated resources. She had come out on several occasions to profess her innocence.
Only two days ago, the media was awash of reports indicating that the EFCC had seized a wristwatch worth £600,000 from Diezani during a raid on one of her houses.
The ex-minister, who is currently battling cancer, was last year arrested by the National Crimes Agency in the United Kingdom for sundry allegations.
Sanusi (now the Emir of Kano), alleged that $20bn was missing from the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, an allegation which led to his suspension and replacement.
The Rainbow was unable to reach the the spokesperson for Fidelity Bank, Mr. Ejike Ndiulo, on phone before, while it was unable to immediately establish contact with Diezanni.
But an official of the EFCC who preferred anonymity because he was not in a position to issue public statements for the commission confirmed that Okonkwo is in their custody and had made useful confessions.
