Respite may have come the
way of some former bank officials whose clearance had been delayed by the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) following the green light given to a former
Executive Director of Union Bank Plc, Mr. Austen Obigwe by the central bank.
Obigwe, who was cleared last week, had been waiting since 2009
for the central bank to give him a clean bill of health.
The CBN in a letter dated March 28, 2014 and titled,” Re: Order
of Removal as Executive Director”, and signed by its acting Governor, Dr Sarah
Alade, informed Obigwe, that he was not in any way indebted to the
Union Bank, and should be free to undertake his activities within the financial
system as he deems fit.
“Following the said order, several representations were made to
the CBN for the review of the circumstance leading to your removal from office.
Union Bank Plc has also confirmed that you are not in any way indebted to the
bank. The CBN management has duly considered these representations and wishes
to state that your removal does not amount to being blacklisted by the CBN.
Accordingly, the CBN hereby confirms that it has no objection to you seeking
employment in the financial services sector subject to the express approval by
the CBN,” it said.
Further investigations revealed that, Union Bank, had in a
letter dated June 22, 2012, accepted the error in publishing Obigwe’s name
in the “Insider Related Credits” in the bank’s annual report of August 31, 2009
and December 3, 2010 and had in the same letter apologised to him for
wrongful information.
It was learnt that Obigwe was never criminally indicted by the
reports of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), CBN, the State Security Service (SSS) or
any other investigating agency.
While Obigwe was the only executive director that was removed
and was not arraigned in court, the CBN had withheld his clearance
but released those of other executive directors whose un-performing
credits, ranged from N19 million to N241 million.
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