Ikeja – A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday admitted more exhibits in the trial of a former Managing Director of Finbank Plc, Okey Nwosu, charged with stealing N10.9 billion from the bank.

Nwosu is standing trial along with three other former directors of the bank, before Justice Lateefat Okunnu.

The others are Dayo Famoroti, Danjuma Ocholi and Agnes Ebubedike.

The exhibits admitted by the court included a 225-page report on Finbank which was compiled by a joint investigation team of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Deposit Insurance Company.

It also included a petition written by some Finbank directors to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), requesting the commission to investigate the bank’s activities.

They were admitted as exhibits 146 and 147 respectively.

Following their admittance, an EFCC investigative officer, Mr Sambo Yaro, was called by the prosecution to give evidence in the trial.

Yaro told the court how about N18 billion was allegedly debited from Finbank’s sundry account and used to purchase the bank’s shares for seven fictitious companies.

The witness, who was led in evidence by EFCC counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), said that the irregular transactions allegedly carried out by the defendants prompted the investigations.

He said that the companies which allegedly purchased the shares were Ferbond Real Estate Ltd., Busch Modern Machine Tools Ltd., Tyco Food Processing Ltd., Omdidem Ltd., Eureka Ventures Ltd., Coastal Lake Ltd. and Cannon Investment Ltd.

Yaro said: “After our investigation, we discovered that the sundry account of the bank was debited to the tune of N18 billion.

“The account of a brokerage firm, Springboard Investment Ltd. was credited with the same amount to buy the bank’s shares on behalf of the seven companies.

“The seven companies were not customers of the bank; they were also not clients of the bank.

“When we visited the addresses of these companies, we could not locate their offices because they were not in existence.”

He testified that some of the shares purportedly bought for the seven companies were later allocated to the defendants and other directors of the bank, who did not pay for them.

The trial will continue on Nov. 28.

NAN reports that the court had earlier admitted in evidence certificates of the shares purportedly purchased and allocated to the defendants.

It has also admitted in evidence, contract letters issued by Nwosu, instructing the Springboard Investment Ltd. to allocate the shares to some directors of the bank, who did not pay for them.

The court has also admitted in evidence, statements of the four defendants before the EFCC during an investigation into the alleged stealing. (NAN)