Less a month after he was released, Nnamdi Okonkwo, Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank PLC has again been picked up by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over fresh allegations.
According to Sahara Reporters, a news site that reports political and high ranking corruption in Nigeria, Nnamdi was allegedly arrested ‘over the discovery of USD 53 million in new funds also laundered through the bank by former Nigerian oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke’
No statement has been issued to the press or to the stock exchange. The last time he was arrested, the bank issued a statement The Exchange saying:
“Our attention has been drawn to reports in the media on investigations into transactions undertaken by the Bank in the normal course of business in 2015.
The transactions are now the subject matter of investigations by the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
We can confirm that the transactions were duly reported as required by the regulators and the Bank is cooperating fully with the authorities on the investigation.
We assure our numerous stakeholders, including our customers that we are working assiduously towards a quick resolution of the issues.”
Nnamdi was replaced with Mohammed Balarabe as the acting CEO. However, Nnamdi returned back to office after he was released as the CEO. It is unclear if the latest development will finally make him bow out.
Nigeria launched a fierce crackdown on corruption since President Muhammadu Buhari took office last May.
Shares of Fidelity Bank PLC [FIDELITY:NL] currently trades at NGN 1.3 per share. The stock has been down by about 24% in in the last 12 months.
