{"id":19233,"date":"2024-08-19T21:11:14","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T21:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=19233"},"modified":"2024-08-19T21:23:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T21:23:03","slug":"ex-first-bank-employee-sues-for-n525-million-accuses-oba-otudeko-of-massive-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=19233","title":{"rendered":"Ex-First Bank Employee Sues for N525 Million, Accuses Oba Otudeko of Massive Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former employee of First Bank of Nigeria Limited<\/a>, Adesuwa Ezenwa, has initiated legal action against the bank at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Judicial Division, seeking redress for the termination of her appointment, which she claims was done \u201cwithout any reason whatsoever being offered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former First Bank staffer is, among other reliefs, demanding five hundred million naira in damages and twenty-five million naira in legal costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mrs. Ezenwa, who was summarily dismissed by the bank in October 2016, also accused billionaire industrialist Oba Otudeko<\/a> of massive fraud during his tenure as chairman of FBN Holdings Plc<\/a>, the parent company of the bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bisi Onasanya, the bank\u2019s managing director\/chief executive officer at the time, is also named in the allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n

In court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES<\/a>, Mrs. Ezenwa alleged that the bank\u2019s credit disciplinary committee made her bear the brunt for granting unsecured loan facilities worth billions of naira to companies in which Mr. Otudeko had substantial investments, while her superiors who approved and granted the credit were not penalized.<\/span><\/p>\n

She stated that she joined the bank on May 27, 2002, and became a relationship manager in the corporate banking division of First Bank in February 2016. According to the court documents, in 2010, Mrs. Ezenwa worked under the supervision of Abiodun Olatunji, her branch manager at the Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island branch of the bank, and her group head, Cecilia Majekodunmi.<\/span><\/p>\n

The documents state that Mr. Olatunji later became the group head, while Mrs. Majekodunmi was promoted to executive vice president, working closely with and reporting to Mr. Onasanya.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a relationship manager, I worked under the supervision and direction of my branch manager and group head and signed official correspondence only after they had approved and\/or signed the same. I had no independent authority in relation to the grant or disbursement of loans or other banking facilities,\u201d Mrs. Ezenwa said.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the claimant, she executed a large number of documents while employed by First Bank, but only after receiving approval and direction from her superiors.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said she was summoned on August 25, 2015, to appear before a credit disciplinary committee reviewing facilities provided to a company known as Supply and Services Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Ceramics Group, one of the bank’s major customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The plaintiff stated that the committee could not determine whether she had a personal interest in any of the loans granted or whether she had made any personal gain related to her duties. However, she said she was blamed during the proceedings for not whistleblowing on some of the deals endorsed by Mr. Olatunji and Mrs. Majekodunmi.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe admonition was most unfair and unwarranted as I was in no position to whistleblow on my superiors \u2026 The persons to whom these reports would have been made were the very persons who were the perpetrators of the misdeeds,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A litany of allegations against Mr Otudeko<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that unsecured loans of roughly N12 billion were availed, on one occasion, to a company in which Mr Otudeko has significant investment even though the facility was masked as loans granted to Stallion Group of Companies, which later spotted the false entry in its statement of account and complained.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one case in 2012, she further alleged, an unsecured credit estimated at N2 billion was granted to Broadwaters Resources Company Nigeria Limited, which ended up being a conduit pipe used by Mrs Majekodunmi and Mr Onasanya to siphon monies from the bank. The claimant said the loan was never repaid.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOut of the N12 billion camouflaged as lending to the Stallion Group, N8.21 billion was transferred through various accounts to a final destination account belonging to a company known as V-TECH LTD, which belongs to the chairman of FBN Holdings, Oba Otudeko, while the sum of N4.45 billion out of the same fictitious facility was transferred to Ontario Oil and Gas. The facility remains unpaid to date,\u201d Mrs Ezenwa said in court fillings.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to her, several similar loans were granted by Mr Olatunji and Mrs Majekodunmi, including to Supplies and Services Limited, which were \u201csubsequently sublet and disbursed in smaller bits to several customers on more profitable terms to both officers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc, Orbit Cargo, Netconstruct Nigeria Limited, and High-Performance Distributions Limited were among the companies named as beneficiaries of the loan disbursement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mrs Ezenwa disclosed that such loans could not have been granted without the involvement of the board of First Bank, considering that the amounts involved were huge and above the approval limits of the executive directors, the vice president and the managing director of the bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the complainant, her dismissal by the bank brought her into disrepute, threatening her chances of securing employment in reputable companies in future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe action of the defendant (First Bank) has consequently caused the claimant untold mental distress and is all the more damaging as the claimant is in her thirties and has simply been made a scapegoat for the malfeasance of some of the lapses of the management of the bank,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among other demands, Mrs Ezenwa is urging the court to declare that there was no basis for the bank to dismiss her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe is being made a scapegoat for a lot of questionable transactions within the bank, which she is claiming innocent of,\u201d Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant\u2019s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES<\/a> on Saturday. \u201cSo far, the trial has started. We have subpoenaed the EFCC, and we have subpoenaed the central bank to bring the audit reports of the bank,\u201d Seyi Sowemimo, the claimant\u2019s lawyer, told PREMIUM TIMES<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former employee of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Adesuwa Ezenwa, has initiated legal action against the bank at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Judicial Division, seeking redress for the termination of her appointment, which she claims was done \u201cwithout any reason whatsoever being offered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19233"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19239,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19233\/revisions\/19239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}