The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday, pledged support for ongoing efforts by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to recover toxic assets it acquired between 2009 and 2011 in a bid to resolve the nation’s banking crisis, and boost the economy.
Acting Chairman of the Commission, Ibrahim Magu spoke, when he received officials of AMCON, led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive, Ahmed Lawan Kuru, in his office.
Magu noted that such support “is in the interest of this country that we support you and work with AMCON,” blaming the incidence of bad loans, especially in Nigerian banks on insider dealings.
The time has come, he stressed, when bankers are held liable for their indiscretion, expressing the Commission’s willingness to strengthen the team already working on AMCON related cases.
Responding, Kuru lamented how over N3.7bn of depositors funds, 15,000 jobs were saved due to AMCON’s intervention in the banking sector between 2009 and 2010.
“The corporation borrowed money from the Financial system and bought 13,000 non-performing loans at the cost of N3.7tr from 22 banks and also injected N2.3tr as financial accommodation to 10 banks in order to bring stability and avoid systematic failure”, he said.
He however listed some of the challenges hampering the corporation’s debt recovery efforts to include the judicial process, non cooperation of debtors, concealment of assets, irregular documentation by banks and other financial institutions, forgery and alteration of financial records.
Kuru further expressed satisfaction with the performance of the EFCC/AMCON desk, and that “ever since the set up of the AMCON desk, we have enjoyed tremendous support of the team which has led to recovery and increased the number of obligors coming forward to AMCON looking for a resolution out of the situation they are in.”
He added that the importance of the EFCC to the actualization of AMCON mandate cannot be overstated as the Commission is “about one of the few organizations that have the power to request or demand information from some of these financial institutions and get response.”