Published: September 1, 2009
Former officials at the five Nigerian banks bailed out last month were charged by the country’s financial crimes agency yesterday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission charged former officials of Finbank, Oceanic Bank International, Afribank Nigeria, Union Bank Nigeria and Intercontinental Bank with various offenses, including giving loans without adequate security and manipulating stock prices. All pleaded not guilty.
In August, Nigeria’s central bank sacked the heads of the five banks after an investigation revealed that poor corporate governance practices and risk management had led one into insolvency and the other four to the brink. It also injected N400bn (US$2.5bn) into the banks to stabilise their balance sheets and published a list of more than 200 of the bank’s debtors.