Fidelity Bank boss Nnamdi Okonkwo returns N40m of the cash he received from Diezani

FIDELITY Bank's managing director Nnamdi Okonkwo has returned a sum of N40m (£136,279) to the Nigerian treasury as part of a plea bargaining deal with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following his recent arrest.

 

Earlier this week, Mr Okonkwo was arrested for allegedly receiving $115m from former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. He was taken into EFCC custody for presiding over the receipt of huge sums of cash and helping to distribute it to beneficiaries two days to the last general elections.

 

Mr Okonkwo is said to have violated extant law by not reporting the receipt and warehousing of the cash to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, as required by law. Among the other Fidelity Bank officials arrested alongside Mr Okonkwo include its head of operations Martins Izuogbe, over his role in the alleged fraud.

 

Ms Alison-Madueke was said to have invited Mr Okonkwo to assist her in handling the said $115m which was distributed to certain Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) officials and groups during the build up to the 2015 presidential election. However, the bubble bust when the EFCC began investigations into how Inec officials in Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom states received N675m from Ms Alison-Madueke.

 

Fidelity Bank is claiming that the transactions were undertaken by the bank in the normal course of business in 2015. Said to be cooperating with the EFCC as it carries out its investigations, the bank also assured its stakeholders, including customers, that it is working assiduously towards a quick resolution of the issue.