The face-off between Femi Otedola, billionaire businessman, and Jim Ovia, chairman of Zenith Bank, over an alleged multibillion naira fraud may have taken a turn for the worse.

Otedola had accused Ovia of unlawfully using the Zenith Bank account of his company, Seaforce Shipping Limited, to trade in 2011 without his knowledge or consent.

Although this and other allegations are being investigated by the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) of the police, moves are being made to resolve the matters amicably, according to a report by TheCable.

UNAUTHORISED TRANSACTIONS

Despite having not been operated since 2010, Seaforce Shipping’s account continued to be used for trading — completely unknown to Otedola, according to his petition to the police.

Although Otedola said Seaforce never applied for nor took a loan from Zenith Bank, unauthorised trading running into billions of naira continued on the account.

When asked to provide documentation — including offer letters to support the grant of the said loans — Zenith Bank reportedly failed to do so.

Otedola discovered the suspicious activities only recently — 13 years after the transactions — when he was tipped off by a whistle blower in Zenith Bank.

When he confronted Zenith Bank’s officials, TheCable learnt, they apologised.

Otedola produced a letter written on March 19, 2018 by Zenith Bank to Shofolawe-Bakare & Co, Seaforce’s auditors, stating a debt of only N2,278,420 on the same account, as against the N5 billion recorded in the bank statement seen by TheCable.

Curiously, on the day the letter was written, the bank statement showed a debt of N2.9 billion — compared to the N2 million stated in the letter signed by Taofik Bashir (internal audit control) and Edwin Kind Olie (group head, telecomm).

Transactions of over N16 billion were recorded against Seaforce’s account from 2011 to 2024.

Otedola queried who made the payments to reduce the purported debt from N16,927,628,581.84 to N11,010,924,522.71 because he was not in the know of the transactions.

There were credits of N77,169,375.00 on April 18, 2011, N119,822,762.50 on December 01, 2011, N316,537,329.30 on December 8, 2011, N266,361,181.73 on December 15, 2011 and N444,304,524.50 on December 12, 2011.

Seaforce now has a debt of N5,916,704,059.13 as a result, a chunk of it being interest charges.

A senior official of the bank has already been questioned by the police.

Meanwhile, Zenon, Seaforce, Luzon Oil and Gas, Garment Care Limited, and Otedola have secured a federal high court injunction against Zenith Bank, Quantum Zenith Securities and Investment, Veritas Registrar, and Central Securities Clearing System, restraining them from trading with shares or paying dividends.

This injunction subsists until the hearing of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has no plans to revoke the licences of Unity, Polaris, and Keystone banks.

Online reports had claimed the apex bank would terminate the licences of the three banks, following the revocation of Heritage Bank’s licence. 

However, in a post on its social media pages on Tuesday, the bank said the content was not authentic.

“The content is fake and not from the CBN,” the post reads. 

On June 4, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the banking licence of Heritage Bank.

According to the CBN, the decision was made due to the bank’s inability to improve its financial performance.

“The Board and Management of the bank have not been able to improve the bank’s financial performance, a situation which constitutes a threat to financial stability,” the bank said.

But the apex said Heritage Bank had not improved and “has no reasonable prospects of recovery”, thereby making revoking the licence the next necessary step.

The bank said the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) is as a result of this appointed as the liquidator of the bank per Section 12 (3) of the Banks and Other Financial Act (BOFIA) 2020.

The revocation, according to the apex bank, reflects its continued dedication to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and soundness of Nigeria’s financial system.

The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it will pay a maximum of N5 million to each depositor of Heritage Bank, following its licence revocation. 

In a notice to depositors on Monday, seen by TheCable, the NDIC said the stipulated maximum payment is in line with extant laws in the case of revocation of licences. 

On Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the banking licence of Heritage Bank following the bank’s “inability to improve its financial performance”.

The NDIC, in the notice, said it has taken over Heritage Bank as the appointed liquidator. 

“Consequently, the Corporation, as the appointed Liquidator; in line with sections 55 (1) (2) and 56 (3) of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Act, 2023, will take necessary steps to wind up the affairs of the bank,” the statement reads.

“Defunct Heritage Bank operated as an insured institution under the provisions of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, 2023. 

“The Corporation will pay all its depositors their insured deposits up to the statutory maximum of N5,000,000.00 per depositor for Deposit Money Banks (DMBS)/mobile money subscribers.

“Depositors with funds in excess of the insured deposits will be paid as and when the assets of the closed bank are realised. 

“Depositors will soon be notified by publication in national dailies as to the commencement of payment of the insured deposits”. 

According to the statement, all depositors who have questions or require further clarifications on their accounts or payments in the closed bank can contact the NDIC.