N585M Fraud: Zenith Bank CEO, Two Others Arrested By EFCC Over Fraud…

Zenith Bank CEO Ebenezer Onyeagwu alongside Providus Bank and Jaiz Bank CEOs, Walter Akpani and Haruna Musa respectively, have been allegedly arrested by the EFCC.

BrandNewsDay reports indicated that the bank CEOs’ arrest is not unconnected to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s fraud investigation into suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.

It was learnt that the bank chiefs were arrested after the EFCC conducted discreet investigations into the banks’ links with Edu and Umar-Farouk.

Peoples Gazette reported that the anti-graft agency is presently probing numerous instances of substantial public funds directed into private accounts, an action sanctioned by the minister and her predecessor.

While Edu is under scrutiny over alleged N44 billion fraud, including an N585 million funds transfer into a private account, Umar-Farouq is being investigated over misappropriation of at least N37 billion public funds earmarked for the conditional cash transfer programme of then-President Muhammadu Buhari.

Gazette reported that the transfer of huge sums of funds into private accounts was partly facilitated by a potential deliberate oversight in flagging suspicious transactions —a responsibility banks bear under various anti-financial crime laws and Central Bank directives.

Neither the banks nor the EFCC has confirmed the arrest of the prominent bank chiefs.