Police Arrest Former Bank Director For Laundering N7bn

The police Special Fraud Unit (SFU),
Monday, arrested a former bank
director, Adekunle Johnson, for
laundering about N7 billion.
Johnson and others still at large, were
also accused of conspiracy, forgery and
stealing, which allegedly led to the
liquidation of Gulf Bank Plc, as reported
by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance
Corporation (NDIC).
Police Public Relations Officer, SFU, DSP
Ngozi Isintume-Agu, who confirmed the
arrest said, the suspect was one of the
executive members of the bank.
According to her, the enormous insider
abuse carried out by the suspect and
several others who are still at large,
eroded the bank’s financial base.
“The suspect is one of the executive
members of Gulf Bank Plc (In-
Liquidation) who were involved in the
insider abuses that led to the bank’s
liquidation as reported by the NDIC.
“He is suspected to be the ringleader in
the collapse of the bank and the fraud
was characterised by manipulation of
records and suppression of information.
“Others include criminal concealments,
misrepresentations and forgeries of
public documents all leading to colossal
loss of the funds of the defunct bank,”
she said.
Investigation by the police started
following a petition by the NDIC, which
alleged that Johnson was a major
shareholder and a director in the
defunct bank.
According to the petition, the suspect
was accused of using his position and
through companies he has substantial
interest in, to defraud the bank of over
N2.5 billion.
“He did this by fraudulently structuring
the credits obtained by him in such a
way that their details were never
disclosed to the board of the bank.
“In view of the above, SFU invited the
suspect for interview which he avoided
twice before he was apprehended at
Yaba area,” the police said.