The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has released details for the liquidation of Heritage Bank Limited. Reasons for the bank’s liquidation was contained in the “Final Comprehensive Report” by Jim Obazee.
Obazee was the Special Investigator appointed by President Bola Tinubu to scrutinize operations of CBN under Godwin Emefiele, ex-CBN governor.
Releasing the final report on Heritage Bank, Obazee suggested that the collapse of the bank could be associated with its role in the acquisition of Keystone Bank.
According to a report submitted December 2023 indicated that in 2017, AMCON’s Managing Director transferred N20 billion to Heritage Bank. And subsequently, Heritage Bank issued a N25 billion loan to the promoters of the ISA FUNTUA/EMEFIELE GROUP to acquire Keystone Bank. This was backed by the bank’s shares.
The report stated that upon securing Keystone Bank, the promoters returned the N20 billion to Heritage Bank as placement. Therefore, allowing Heritage Bank to repay AMCON from the generated cash flow.
However, it stated, when the loan matured and the ISA FUNTUA/EMEFIELE GROUP defaulted, Heritage Bank’s MD, under severe liquidity pressure, sought repayment through legal threats to take over Keystone Bank based on the pledged shares.
According to the report, that relentless pressure led to the resignation of several key executives of the bank. Among those that resigned included the MD and the Deputy Managing Director, who subsequently became the Acting Managing Director.
The report claimed that “the MD of the bank at that time resigned due to the consistent pressure from him and the shareholders to comply.”
source: Premium Times
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