The Sun News On-line

Managing Director of Wema Bank Plc, Mr. Adebisi Omoyeni was on Wednesday arrested by detectives from the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, for allegedly defrauding the bank to the tune of N450 million.

Secretary of the bank’s board of directors, Mr. Biodun Ogunlade had earlier been arrested, but granted bail to enable him to observe the 40th-day funeral prayer for his late wife.
Their arrest was a fallout of the crisis which has been rocking the bank in the past few months.

The embattled managing director was arrested in Abuja on Tuesday morning and brought to Lagos at about 4 p.m.

According to police sources, detectives from the SFU picked up Omoyeni following instruction from bank regulatory authorities, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) over an alleged N450 million fraud.
The WEMA Bank boss’ journey to detention started early January, 2008 when he was directed to proceed on indefinite leave by the CBN, following what a source described as “weighty allegations” of fraudulent activities.

At the SFU premises, Omoyeni was brought in wearing a black suit. He looked calm.
The MD, smiled as newsmen tried to speak with him, but he was not allowed to make comment by the detectives who hurriedly led him upstairs for interrogation.
Confirming the arrest, the Commissioner of Police in charge of SFU, Mr. Olayinka Balogun, said the bank managing director was held over a case of conspiracy and fraud as reported by the NDIC.

He said Omoyeni and Ogunlade allegedly forged and altered the minutes book of the board meeting to read five years upfront housing allowance of N450 million to be written off in five years at N90 million per year, instead of purchase of a house worth N450 million as official residence for the managing director.

Balogun further explained that the N450 million had allegedly been collected by Omoyeni, but rather than purchase a building as official residence of the managing director, the suspect claimed the money was housing allowance to be written off in five years.

The commissioner further alleged that the finance division of Wema Bank also withdrew N29 million from Marina branch and debited it to Provision Productivity Bonus account number 171050001.
Based on this, NDIC was said to have been suspicious of the irregular transactions and later queried the managing director, who was said to have refunded N20 million on January 9, 2008.

The sum of N9 million was allegedly paid to Messrs Olapade Mohammed (who got N5 million) and Senator Omobolu Meroyi (who got N4 million). They are both members of the bank’s board.

However, the bank’s managing director allegedly claimed the N29 million had been fully refunded at a meeting with the CBN/NDIC and the bank’s board on January 18.
The commissioner said investigations later revealed that the bank merely debited the accounts of the two directors creating an unsolicited credit facility.

Further investigations by the CBN/NDIC into the receipt of N450 million by Omoyeni revealed that he immediately paid N182,671,000 to Implementation Committee on the leave of Federal Government property and also paid N263,000,000 to Store Pavers International Limited.

Meanwhile, other board members have made themselves available for interrogation at the SFU.
Only on Monday, workers held a national congress at the corporate headquarters of the bank in Lagos, applauding the current efforts and process aimed at revamping the bank, while denying the public impression that suggested they were backing the former MD who is currently on a forced leave.

The bank’s management has been taken over by the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Central Bank which are currently looking into its books after suspending the former bank boss over the alleged atrocities.