Following media reports at the weekend that the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigeria Police has filed charges bordering on conspiracy and stealing of metal billets belonging to a petitioner- BMCE Bank International, the board of Access Bank Plc, on Monday, said it only took steps to secure its depositors’ funds as expected.
Access Bank and Herbert Wigwe, its Chief Executive, among others, were charged before an Ogun State High Court, Sagamu by the SFU, Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, on a five-count charge of conspiracy, fraudulent disposal of trust property, fraudulent conversion, stealing and false representation, before Justice N.I. Agbelu of the Ogun State High Court in Sagamu.
In the charge marked HCS/010/19, SFU alleged that Wigwe and others, sometime in June 2017, at the premises on Metal Africa Steel Products Limited, Kilometre 16, Ikorodu/Sagamu road, Ewe Jagun, Ogun State, conspired among themselves to have unlawfully effected the sale of 23,754.413 metric tonnes of steel billets, belonging to BMCE Bank International Plc for N2.572bn to Africa Steel Products Limited.
The defendants were accused also of forging bill of lading numbers: MJINLOS150007’1A’; MJINLOS150007 ‘1B’; MJINLOS150007 ‘1C’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2A’; MJINLOS150007’2B’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2C’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2C’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2D’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2E’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2F’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2G’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2H’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2I’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2J’; MJINLOS150007 ‘2k’; MJINLOS150007’2L’ andMJINLOS150007’2M’, which they claimed were issued on January 9, 2016.
In a statement to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by Sunday Ekwoche, its Company Secretary, Access Bank expressed surprise at the charges by the SFU, alleging that it stole the billets and forged the shipping documents, given the available facts on the ground.
Insisting on its innocence, the bank stressed that at no time did its officials “commit any of the alleged offences.”
Instead, it said “it financed the importation of the billets,” just as the Receiver/Manager it engaged along with “a syndicate of other lenders had the right to sell the goods,” saying it is aware that there are civil matters in court on the same subject.
For the records, the bank recalled its bank-customer relationship dates back to 2014 when it financed the importation of billets and machinery for the expansion of a customers’ factory.
For this purpose, he said ‘Form M’ and Letters of Credit (LC) was opened to facilitate importation of billets, following which the shipping documents were consigned to Access Bank and facilities secured by a Debenture Trust Deed over the customer’s assets shared with other lenders.
When the billets arrived and the bank released the shipping documents to enable the customer clear the goods from the port however, it was discovered that the goods were cleared without paying the appropriate Customs Duty.
This situation was reported to the SFU, which obtained a court order to take over the customers’ business operations; just as it petitioned Interpol, which is now taking steps to repatriate the suspects involved in the alleged fraud from India.
Meanwhile, beneficiary backs (including Access Bank), in line with the Debenture Trust Deed, appointed Receiver/Manager who took over the operations of the business and paid the appropriate Customs Duty on the billets.
The Receiver/Manager who subsequently obtained an order of the Federal High Court, based on which he sold the billets and distributed the proceeds among the beneficiaries.
The petitioner, according to the statement, laid claims to the same billet, following which there were attempts at settlement with the Receiver/Manager which failed, leading to the filing of a complaint at the SFU.