CASE NUMBER 10887:

CECILIA IBRU FORFEITS ASSETS

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Alleged Perpetrators(s)

Cecilia Ibru

Location (Town / State)

Lagos, Lagos

Date of Event

08 Oct 2010

Date of republication

08 October every year

Case category (Choose all that apply)

Case Summary

The former MD/CEO of Oceanic Bank was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and ordered to forfeit over N150 Billion in assets for corporate corruption.

Full story

Mrs Cecilia Ibru started working with Oceanic Bank as a General Manager in 1990. She rose rapidly through the ranks within seven years in the bank to be appointed as Managing Director/CEO. Oceanic Bank which started as a small family owned bank grew to become one of Nigeria’s largest publicly quoted institutions during Mrs Ibru’s stewardship.

She was highly regarded in banking circles for her contributions in developing the Bank. One of her particular successes includes the successful recapitalisation to a Shareholders Fund of N25 billion in line with the Banking Consolidation Policy announced by the Central Bank of Nigeria. She was also well regarded in social circles as a woman of integrity and enterprise.

However, despite her stellar banking records, Mrs. Ibru had some unsavoury skeletons in her cupboard. About Seventy per cent of the N278 billion non-performing loans (NPLs) that brought the bank to financial distress went to Mrs Ibru and members of her immediate family. She used some bogus companies or nominees (including, Oceanic Homes Savings & Loans Limited, certain professional advisers, her son and daughter, her sons’ nanny and daughter-in-law) to acquire and mask ownership of assets, including shares of companies and several choice real properties in Nigeria and abroad. In addition, she controlled over 35% of the bank through the use of Special Purpose Vehicle’s borrowing customer deposits

These nefarious activities coupled with the systematic corruption that was echoing through the financial sector gravitated into a near-cataclysmic collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market. The Central Bank of Nigeria led by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi moved in with emergency measures to rescue the dwindling capital market from collapse.

Following her dismissal, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission begun investigating Mrs Ibru’s tenure as MD/CEO. On 31st August, 2009, she was arraigned on a 23-Count Charge bordering on bank and securities fraud, and criminal manipulations of bank records and depositors funds before Honourable Justice Dan Abutu of the Federal High Court, Lagos. She remained in EFCC custody till 14th September, 2009 when she was granted bail by the court.

Mrs Ibru entered into a plea-bargaining agreement with the EFCC, wherein she pleaded guilty to only counts 14, 15, and 17 of the initial charge sheet read to her. The EFCC consequently amended the charge sheet to reflect only these three counts.

On 8th October, 2010, the trial judge, Hon. Justice Dan Abutu sentenced her to six months imprisonment on each of the three counts to run concurrently. The judgment has been derided as a “slap on the wrist” by social commentators because one of the counts for which she was convicted (pursuant to Section 16A of the EFCC Act) provides a penalty of imprisonment of not more than five years without the option of a fine. However, the court on the submission of the learned counsel for the prosecution chose to impose a reduced penalty of 6 months together with an agreement for the forfeiture of assets.

In addition to the six months imprisonment, she was also ordered to forfeit the sum of Ni50 billion Naira (approximately 1.29 billion dollars) in assets. The sale of assets belonging to Mrs Ibru which were confiscated by the court order was tainted with controversy. Out of the over 7 Million Dollars received from the sale of Mrs Ibru’s 61 properties, only about $ 3,278,238.69 was paid to the Assets and Management Corporation of Nigeria AMCON). In 2018, the EFCC identified two accounts believed to be stashed with the proceeds realised from the sale of these assets.

External links/URLs

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/cecelia-ibru-goes-to-jail/

http://saharareporters.com/2010/10/08/former-md-oceanic-bank-cecilia-ibru-convicted-bank-fraud

https://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=118818

https://dailynigeri

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