ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Office of the Special Investigator probing the tenure of Godwin Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria has rejected a request by the Chairman of Titan Trust Bank Limited, Babatunde Lemo, for the rescheduling of their December 28, 2023 meeting till January 7, 2024.
The Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, warned that the failure of Lemo and other major shareholders of TTB to attend Thursday’s meeting may lead to the forfeiture of their shareholding and interests in Titan Trust Bank and Union Bank Nigeria Plc.
This was contained in a letter to the TTB Chairman dated December 27, 2023, and signed by the Head of Operations, Office of the Special Investigator, Eloho Okpoziakpo, a Deputy Commissioner of Police.
The letter was in response to a letter from Lemo’s lawyer seeking a shift of today’s meeting until January.
The investigator also turned down a proposal by Lemo that the major shareholders of Titan Trust Bank, Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara, should be given seven days to prove their purported ownership of TTB and Union Bank of Nigeria or forfeit the shares to the Federal Government.
The Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, had summoned Lemo, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in connection with the acquisition of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc by TTB.
The TTB chairman was directed to report to the Department of Force Intelligence opposite the Force headquarters, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, on Thursday (today), where he will be grilled by a team of detectives probing the UBN acquisition.
Lemo was further instructed to come along with Vink and Savara to meet with the team of special investigators.
Obazee stated in his investigation report that some persons were used as proxies by a former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, to set up Titan Trust Bank and acquire Union Bank, all from ill-gotten wealth.
However, Lemo, in a letter by his lawyer, G. Elias, dated December 27, requested a shift of the meeting with investigators as he was away from Nigeria.
The letter, which was signed by Prof. Gbolahan Elias, SAN, read in part, “Unfortunately, both Mr Tunde Lemo and the two largest ultimate investors in the banks (Mr. Cornelius Vink; Mr. Rahul Savara) are away from Nigeria at the moment for family and other reasons.
“That is typically so at this time of the year. They are not due to be in Nigeria before the second week in January 2024. They will honour the invitations fully soon after they come in.
“With regard to the information requested, which we submitted earlier on 1st September 2023 at the DSS HQ as evidenced in Annex 1 therewith, we will resubmit the information tomorrow morning for your kind review. The individual invitees and the Banks re-iterate their willingness and readiness to co-operate with your good selves in your important work.”
The investigator dismissed the request for a postponement of the meeting with the TTB major shareholders, noting that Lemo had earlier agreed to attend today’s meeting.
