Contrary to reports in some online and traditional media, the management of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) on Wednesday denied depositing the sum of N573 million into the account of Pastor Godwin Omale, said to be an associate of the suspended chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.
The bank said this while reacting to reports that its representative told the Justice Ayo Salami Panel set up to probe panel that N573 million was lodged into the account of Emmanuel Omale.
One of the allegations before the panel was that the cleric allegedly withdrew the deposited fund and used it to buy a house for the suspended EFCC Chairman in Dubai.
But FCMB’s Group Head, Corporate Affairs, Diran Olojo, said the bank did not made any such deposit into the cleric’s account, explaining that what happened was a system error which reflected in the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU)
He added that the error did not result into any credit into the account as was clarified by the FCMB’s managing director to the presidential panel.
See full statement below:
Our attention has been drawn to widely circulating stories incorrectly stating that our Managing Director, during a recent presidential hearing in Abuja, testified that the bank mistakenly transferred N573m to the account of a church and the said error was not discovered for 4 years. We feel it is in the public interest to state emphatically that there was no transfer of N573m into this account, mistakenly or otherwise.
To provide further clarity, during a maintenance upgrade of our systems in 2016, a defective file led to the aggregation of multiple unrelated entries into a single balance under the affected customer’s name in one of our reports. This aggregation occurred only in the weekly automated report to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. It had no effect on any customer account balance or statements and therefore was not immediately identified. Our Managing Director clarified to the Presidential panel that the system generated report was incorrect and that there was no mistaken transfer of N573 million. He also submitted comprehensive documentary evidence to this effect.
We appreciate that comments may have been misconstrued and therefore believe it is important to emphatically clarify the position that there was no mistaken transfer whatsoever, as stated above. FCMB continues to fully cooperate with the panel, and has been entirely transparent in its reporting. We remain committed to ethical and professional conduct at all times.