Skye Bank: EFCC withdraws Tunde Ayeni’s N25.4bn case

 Skye Bank: EFCC drops N25.4 billion charge against Tunde Ayeni

Tunde Ayeni

The defunct Skye Bank's chairman, Tunde Ayeni, and the bank's managing director, Timothy Oguntayo, were the targets of a N25.4 billion corruption case that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission filed against them. The settlement with the businessmen may have involved the forfeiture of N15 billion in cash and assets.

Ayeni, Oguntayo, and two other companies were charged by the EFCC, which is headed by Ibrahim Magu, on March 7, 2019, with 10 counts of attempted money laundering involving a total of N25.4 billion. The defendants were brought before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court of Abuja.

"That you, Tunde Ayeni, while serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the defunct Skye Bank Plc in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honorable court between the first of January, 2014 and the last day of December, 2014, did commit an offence, to wit: converting the total sum of N17,415,080,000 taken in cash from the defunct Skye Bank Plc Suspense Account and delivered to you by the staff of the defunct Sky bank PLC.

The EFCC attorney, Samuel Chime, said during the hearing on December 8, 2020, "Parties have made significant progress. As part of the settlement in this case, the defendants gave up a property in Lagos, which was given to the prosecution. However, as AMCON and Skye Bank are the nominal complaint in this case, we were forced to rely on them.

"AMCON rejected the N15 billion value. The property was valued at N10 billion. The defendants have consented to provide an additional N5 billion as a result.

The EFCC decided to drop the charges it had brought against Ayeni and the former MD of the bank, notifying the court that a settlement had been reached, according to the certified true copy of the records of proceedings that our reporter was able to get.

Contrary to other cases involving bank officials, the precise sum of money Ayeni and his co-defendant allegedly returned was never made public.

After informing the court that the charges against Ayeni and the former bank MD had been dropped, the anti-graft agency's attorney, Abba Mohammed, requested that the charges against Ayeni and the ex-bank MD be dismissed in accordance with Section 108(2a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015.

The co-defendants of Ayeni and Oguntayo, Control Dredging Company Ltd and Royaltex Paramount Ventures Ltd, were subsequently re-arrested and forced to enter guilty pleas to the offenses that Ayeni had been charged with perpetrating.

"The business of the day is arraignment, and we are ready," the prosecution declared. Before we move forward, the complainant will want to use Section 108(2a) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to drop the charges against the first and second defendants, Ayeni and Oguntayo, and only move forward against the third and fourth defendants, Control Dredging Company and Royaltex Paramount Ventures.

Inibehe Effiong, an activist lawyer, responded to the development by saying that while a plea deal has benefits in terms of cost savings, it shouldn't be misused.

While Internet scammers were typically forced to enter guilty pleas and lose all of their assets to the commission, Effiong questioned why the EFCC permitted Ayeni to avoid punishment and return only a portion of the money.

To prevent others from being inspired to steal, return the stolen property for a little sum of money, and escape punishment, there must be deterrence during the plea bargain process. There should be a recorded guilty plea. Without this, it is impossible to say that the individual broke any laws. Why can't we receive a full reimbursement of the purportedly stolen money if they are of the opinion that he should be allowed to go free? He queried.

Auwal Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC/Transparency International, also claimed in a conversation with Sunday MEDIA that the Nigerian plea bargain system encouraged corruption.

Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC's spokesman, denied knowledge of the development when reached for comment.