5 YEARS AFTER REMOVAL, CBN CLEARS UNION BANK DIRECTOR OF WRONGDOING...

Respite may have started coming  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.

The battle for Obigwe’s clearance in the last four years brought to the fore the tardiness the CBN had handled the issue of some of the bank chiefs, especially during the tenure of the suspended Governor of the central bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.