The board of Access Bank Plc, on Friday, denounced social media news reports that its Group Chief Executive, Herbert Wigwe was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over credit facilities to Slok Nigeria Limited, a group owned by Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Imo State.
An online newspaper in a report read on twitter said Wigwe was arrested over assets linked to Kalu, is serving a 12-year imprisonment for N7.65bn fraud.
In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange Sunday Ekwochi, its company secretary, Access Bank explained “that the issue essentially relates to the credit facilities that were availed Slok Nigeria Limited by the defunct Diamond Bank Plc.
The loan, secured by Slok’s assets charged to Diamond, the bank explained, was inherited by Access Bank, following last year’s merger of Diamond and Access Bank.
Arising from the conflicting interests between the commission and the bank on the assets, deriving from a recent court judgement on Slok, the EFCC, Ekwochi explained further, invited officials of the bank handling ongoing recovery efforts on Slok credit, including its Group Managing Director for interrogation.
As a result of the fruitful engagement between the bank and the EFCC, he stressed, “we are of the opinion that the issues relating to Slok investigation have been resolved.”
He assured stakeholders that Access Bank, being an institution built on best practice, will continue to conduct its business in line with extant laws and regulations.