The trial of former Managing Director of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, and four others, accused of defrauding Arik Air of N76 billion and $31.5 million, resumed on Monday at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented its first prosecution witness (PW1), Peter Omokaro, before Justice Mojisola Dada.
Omokaro is a former Assistant General Manager, Treasury, at Union Bank of Nigeria.
The witness told the court that Union Bank never granted Arik Air a loan or disbursed cash for aircraft acquisition, contradicting claims surrounding the alleged fraudulent transactions.
The defendants in the case include Ahmed Kuru, former Receiver Manager of Arik Air Ltd; Kamilu Omokide, Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air; Capt. Roy Ilegbodu; Super Bravo Ltd., and Union Bank Plc.
They are facing a six-count charge bordering on theft, abuse of office, and dishonest conversion of funds.
One of the charges read, “That you, Union Bank Nigeria Plc, sometime in 2011 or thereabouts, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intention of causing and/or inducing unwarranted sale of Arik Air loans and bank guarantees with Union Bank, made false statements to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) regarding Arik Air Limited’s performing loans, following which you transferred a bogus figure of N71,000,000,000 to AMCON.”
Another charge alleged that Kuru, Omokide, and Ilegbodu fraudulently converted N4.9 billion belonging to Arik Air Limited to the use of NG Eagle Limited in 2022.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges.
During Monday’s proceedings, Omokaro, led in evidence by EFCC counsel Wahab Shittu (SAN), stated that he worked at Union Bank from 1980 to 2015 and was invited by the EFCC to make a statement on the case.
He explained that Arik Air had approached Union Bank for assistance in purchasing aircraft, but the bank only acted as a guarantor for facilities secured from HSBC Bank and the US Export-Import (EXIM) Bank.
“Union Bank only guaranteed facilities secured by the airline from two foreign banks, HSBC Bank and US EXIM Bank, to facilitate the acquisition of the aircraft from Airbus and Boeing. Union Bank, in turn, collected indemnity from Arik Air and the aircraft was delivered,” Omokaro said.
He emphasised that at no point did Union Bank disburse cash for the aircraft acquisition.
According to him, in August 2009, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) took over Union Bank, and by December 2010, the bank’s executive management sold the guarantee to AMCON as part of an effort to manage non-performing loans.
Omokaro revealed that in early 2011, Union Bank realised the error and attempted to rectify it in a meeting held in London, attended by AMCON, Union Bank, HSBC Bank, and US EXIM Bank—but notably excluding Arik Air.
“Union Bank wanted to step in as obligor to take over Arik Air’s responsibility,” he said.
He reiterated that Union Bank never granted Arik Air a loan and did not call in the indemnity from the airline.
“Union Bank never gave a loan to Arik Air. Union Bank converted the guarantee to cash and used it to collect money from AMCON. The primary lender did not call in the guarantee, nor did the bank call in the guarantee for Arik Air,” Omokaro told the court.
He further stated that Arik Air had not defaulted on payments.
The prosecution sought to tender five documents related to the transaction, which were admitted into evidence.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Omokaro confirmed that the first and third defendants were not part of the transaction.
“The first and third defendants were not part of the transaction. I myself was not in the London meeting,” he stated.
Under questioning by Kuru’s counsel, Olasupo Shasore (SAN), Omokaro admitted that the transaction took place in 2010, when Kuru was not yet AMCON’s Managing Director.
Union Bank’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), also asked Omokaro to confirm that he had once sued the bank after the sudden termination of his employment, to which he responded affirmatively.
Justice Dada adjourned the trial until Wednesday, March 19, 2025, for further proceedings.
