FIDELITY BANK NOW SAFE HAVEN FOR MONEY LAUNDERERS AND LOOTERS
Though Fidelity Bank has been known to be one of the fastest growing bank in Nigeria ,recently they they have been involved in various forms of scandal ,especially by helping corrupt public officials to steal from the public ,forgetting about the good name that the bank is known for .
Recently about N1.5trillion naira and $9 was allegedly traced to NIMASA boss Bashir Jimoh personal account with Fidelity which is alleged to be proceed of fraud..The money was found in Bashir’s account with number 4020949836 who is also father-in-law to Tunde who is also personal assistant to President Buhari..
However, the account number with BVN 22151837650 and telephone number 08034517410 has Hamza Ibrahim Jamoh while the BVN number revealed a different identity.
Also ,the NIMASA boss is also accused of awarding contracts to the companies in which he has substantial interest which code of conducts for the awards of contract in public places..Bashir Yusuf set up a company Talent Expertise International Limited with RN:1488830 to request for jobs from NIMASA where he is alleged to be a director and awarding contract to the same company.
Another company BIXBY OIL limited is also alleged to have paid money his account which makes the case to have a semblance of money laundering with the connivance and active support of Fidelity Bank.
This is not the first time Fidelity Bank will be enmeshed in the money laundry scandal of this magnitude, remember that the former Managing Director of the bank Nnamdi Okonkwo and the bank’s head of operations were also arrested in a case of money laundering over the discovery of $153 million in new funds also laundered through the bank by former Nigerian oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
According to reports, in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election, Diezani invited Okonkwo to help her handle some cash, which would be disbursed to electoral officials and groups.
However, the fraud was uncovered when the EFCC began investigations into how officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom States received N675.1m.
It was alleged that the first company, Auctus Integrated, deposited $17,884,000 into the bank. The second company, Northern Belt Gas Company, deposited $60m while another company, Midwestern Oil and Gas, deposited $9.5m. A fourth company, Leno Laitan Adesanya, deposited $1.85m while the MD himself received $26m in cash.”
Diezani’s son, Ugonna Madueke, later served as a middleman between the former minister and the MD of the bank.
The bank officials were arrested, charged to court and granted administrative bail.
