FIRST BANK MD, BISI ONASANYA IN $76M FRAUD SCANDAL

First Bank MD, Bisi Onasanya

Investigations has just unraveled a major scandal of the year at the epitome First Bank of Nigeria. The fraud largely centres on insider dealings, abuse of due process, diversion of funds, conversion, undue influence and wanton misappropriation with the MD of the Bank playing a key role and a beneficiary of the diversion and conversion as per the rules of vicarious liability.

According to our investigations, a fund amounting to over $76million supposedly kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria and purportedly under the control of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been siphoned out for unapproved and unauthorized expenses and budgets.

The fund which is in excess of N11billion has been spent over different contracts awarded by the Minister of Aviation Mrs. Stella Oduah and the Managing Director of FAAN Mr. George Uriesi without following due process, no approval of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), no due process certificate issued, and no federal Executive Council approval.

These spending were neither budgeted nor appropriated in the 2012 Budget passed by the National Assembly, had no Federal Executive Council Approval and did not comply with the spending limits allowed by the delegated financial authority of the Government.

It could be recalled that Stella Oduah was disgraced out of office, over abuse of office and misappropriation of funds amounting to billions of naira, when she was still a minister.

Ms Oduah, was alleged to have used First Bank many times to perfect her financial misappropriation.

Funds in the BASA account was split into private accounts of contractors and some parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Aviation, in which Bisi Onasanya led First Bank of Nigeria is also a major beneficiary amongst other banks.

Now that the $76million has been diverted and spent, the Federal Ministry of Aviation has now devised a new method to further divert and spend all the current BASA income of over $80million received from the foreign airlines operating into Nigeria.

For instance the payments by airlines such as Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates etc amounted to over $80million are now being diverted. This alarming situation of complete depletion of the BASA fund without any appropriation from the National Assembly or approval from the Presidency or Federal Executive Council or Bureau for Public Procurement is worrisome.

We reached out to Mrs Folake Anny-Mumuney, the Head Marketing and Corporate Communications department of the financial institution but she refused to reply to our messages before publishing the story.


Via Society Gist with intro by LBW