N2bn fraud: EFCC swoops on 6 banks CEO

The nabbed suspects include Ogudu Samuel of Brightway Micro Finance, A.K. Imam of Magajingari Micro Finance Bank, Adeleke M.S. of Sincere Micro Finance Bank, Yusuf Muideen of Balogun Fulani Micro Finance Bank, Issa Abdulrasheed of KCMB Micro Finance Bank, as well as Oyebode Asimiyu of Apels Micro Finance bank.

Aside from the suspects who were apprehended in separate arrest, the Director-General of the Kwara State Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Segun Soewu, was also nabbed by the operatives of the EFFC from its Ilorin Zonal office.

According to the Acting Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Tony Orilade, the anti-graft agency went after the suspects upon discovery that the N2 billion, which was meant to serve as soft loan facilities to boost small scale businesses across Kwara State, was distributed to highly placed politicians, traditional rulers and other prominent people across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state.

He said 50% of the loan was shared to a selected group of businessmen and women, who failed to pay back, as was originally conceived.

Orilade also made known that aside from those arrested, the EFCC was also probing 5 other persons over similar allegations of fraud.

Those under the Commission’s probe, according to him include Lawal Ayo of Omu-Aran Micro Finance Bank, Tope Eniola of Iludun Micro Finance Bank, Lawal Folashade of Stockcarp Micro Finance Bank, Yusuf Tajudeen of First Heritage Micro Finance Bank, and Olawoye E.O. of Offa Micro Finance bank.

Prior to this development, Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the EFCC, had lamented that many fraudsters in Nigerian banks were aiding criminals to perpetrate financial crimes.

According to him, such fraudsters assisted politically-exposed persons to steal and launder public funds. He added that there were “bad eggs” in the agency he heads.

He said apart from colluding with corrupt politicians and “terrorists”, some banks also helped internet fraudsters to commit financial crimes, using money transfer services.