By Innocent Anaba
LAGOS—CHIEF Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Dan Abutu, yesterday, transferred  the trial of  the former Chief Executive Officer of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Dr. Erastus Akingbola, to Justice Charles Archibong.

This was announced at the resumed hearing of the case before Justice Mohammed Idris who was  previously handling the case.

Akingbola, who returned to the country two months ago to face allegations of corrupt practices levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was in court but was told that the matter could not go on because of the new development.

Counsel to Akingbola, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe, SAN, told newsmen who besieged the court that no definite date had been fixed for the trial as the prosecuting counsel was absent from the trial.

He, however, said the court registrar would send hearing notices to the parties on the next adjourned date.

But Akingbola who was arraigned shortly after his return by the  EFCC has resolved to challenge the CBN on how it arrived at the figures quoted against him.

In the charge the EFCC had accused him of moving the bank’s funds out as loans to companies related to directors of the banks, reclassified loan portfolio of the bank; direct investments by the bank into the stock market and staff performance bonuses.

However, Akingbola is querying the linking of these funds’ movement to his name or companies in all the reports produced by CBN, NDIC or EFCC.

Loan to companies

In a statement of  defence, Akingbola averred that the total amount reported to have gone as loan to companies related to some directors of the bank was about N40 billion, out of which N22.9 billion had been repaid with N17.1 billion outstanding, but he was accused of permitting the amounts to be outstanding.

The second component of the figure in the charge amounting to N87.6 billion represented the value of bank’s loan portfolio, where the former bank chief was accused of allowing this amount to be translated as commercial paper which, according to the apex bank, understood the bank’s non-performance loan portfolio.

The third component of the charge comprises the various sums the bank invested in the stock market, totaling N179.4 billion.

Akingbola was accused of approving the investment to boost the bank’s share price in the stock market. The balance of about N39 billion out of the N346 billion quoted as allegedly misappropriated represented various staff performance bonuses paid to bank’s staff over several years which the apex bank considered inappropriate and faulted Akingbola for approving same.

But Akingbola’s counsel, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe, SAN, alleged that the court was fully aware that the figures being mentioned were never entered as amounts stolen by Akingbola but rather, it was the mischief of the media trial of his client.

In the statement of defence, the CBN, he argued, had investigated the bank four times before Akingbola’s removal in August last year and after his removal three further forensic investigations were conducted by a joint team of CBN, NDIC, EFCC and forensic experts, with the purpose of finding where Akingbola benefitted from the transactions but no such incrimination was found.