SEC arraigns Albert Okumagba, BGL executives for fraud

Albert Okumagba

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria has arraigned Albert Okumagba, the former CEO of the defunct BGL Securities for securities fraud.

At a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Albert Okumagba was said to be absent but represented by his lawyer.

It would be recalled that the SEC had banned Albert Okumagba and his board for 20 years after the Commission found him guilty of mismanagement and securities fraud of investors fund.

In a statement released by the SEC, Albert and Chibundu Edozien, his deputy is to refund a total of NGN 2.9 billion to investors (individuals and institutional investors) who BGL could not refund their monies.

See below the judgement of the SEC’s APC:

The Commission received several complaints against the 1st and 2nd Respondent over failure, refusal and/or neglect to liquidate their investments in both the Guaranteed Consolidated Notes (GCN) and Guaranteed Premium Notes (GPN). Upon investigation of the complains it was discovered that the indebtedness of the 1st & 2nd respondent to the complainants stood at ₦2, 184, 474, 991.65 (Two Billion, One Hundred and Eighty Four Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Four Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety One Naira, Sixty Five Kobo). It was also revealed that act was carried out through the 3rd to 23rd respondents.

In a bid to obtain justice for the complainants and grant all parties fair hearing, the matter was presented before the Administrative proceedings Committee (APC) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Upon confirmation that all parties to the matter had been served hearing notices, the SEC APC sat and heard the matter on February 6, 2016. During the proceedings testimonies and documentary evidence were tendered by various parties.

Upon conclusion of the proceedings, the SEC APC arrived at a decision which has been approved by the relevant authority. The decisions of the Committee are as follows:

  1. That by their actions and/or omissions the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 21st and 22ndRespondents engaged in acts capable of adversely affecting the investing public’s image of, and confidence in the capital market.
  2. That all the allegations against the 20th, 22nd and 23rd Respondents were not substantiated hence they are hereby discharged.
  3. That the 1st Respondent restitute the 1st, 4th & 7th complainant, while the 2ndrespondent restitutes the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th & 10th
  4. That the 1st Respondent refund to the 2nd Complainant the sum of N855, 539, 809.55 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Five Million, Five Hundred and Thirty Nine Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine Naira Fifty Five Kobo).
  5. That pursuant to Section 304 of the Investments and Securities Act 2007 all information on possible criminality in this matter be and is hereby referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies and the Enforcement Department of the Commission shall follow up and ensure that the matter is brought to a logical conclusion.
  6. The Committee further passed the following sanction on the under listed respondents as follows:

Albert Okumagba was the CEO of BGL Securities and BGL Asset Management Limited before its collapse.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *