Alleged Forgery: Police set to prosecute 5 First Bank's managers

 

There are indica­tion that some top management staff of First Bank Plc may be charged to court following the outcome of a forensic investiga­tion over alleged forgery and wilful falsification of a Deed of Guarantee purportedly signed by Ismail Alao, the son of the late businessman, Arisekola-Alao.

Ismaila Arisekola-Alao had in a petition written to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police ‘’D’’ entitled: ‘’Urgent request to conduct forensic inves­tigation into a case of forgery, criminal con­version, wilful falsifica­tion of facts dated Oc­tober 15, 2015,’’ alleged that his signature and other documents were forged by top manage­ment officers of First Bank Plc to take over his late father’s compa­nies.

Those accused in the petition are the banks’ Chief Legal Officer, Raymond Mbgeokwere, Executive Director (Corporate), Head Legal Services, Ropo Okun­muyide and theformer Managing Director, Bisi Onasanya and two oth­ers.

Consequently, in a cir­cular CB/7000/X/FHQ/ABJ/VOL 36012, signed by Commissioner of Po­lice, Femi Oyeleye, on behalf of the Deputy In­spector-General of Po­lice, the Commissioner of Police, Police Special Fraud Unit (SPFU) was directed to carry out in­stigation on the petition.

The AUTHORITY gathered that the report of the investigation con­firmed the allegations of forgery against the bank and that of the Notary Public that it claimed at­tested to the documents.

Consequently, the bank officials, led by its chief legal officer were invited and allegedly made useful statements to the Police.

The investigating team led by one CSP Oketunji was said to have dis­covered how the bank forged the late Ariseko­la-Alao’s signature and that of his son Ismaila on the Deed of Guaran­tee of Lister Oil.

The report also dis­covered that there are fake assets and address­ees for some properties in the Deed of Guaran­tee to take over Lister Oil tank farm belonging Arisekola-Alao under a purported N10billion debt

The report of the in­stigation which was re­leased in March has been forwarded to the office of Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice and possible prosecution of the al­leged offenders.

‘’ The son (Ismaila Arisekola-Alao) and fathers (late Arisekola - Alao) signatures were forged. The assets de­clared on the forms were false. Notary pub­lic whom first Bank claimed stamped it “be­fore him” wasn’t aware of the transaction.’’

‘’The bank forged the signatures of Arisekola-Alao and his son (Is­maila) on the Deed of Guarantee of Lister Oil Limited and included fake assets and address­es for some properties in the deed of guarantee to take over the Lister Oil tank farm belonging to the man under a pur­ported debt by another company belonging to Arisekola to the bank of N100million which the bank claims has now grown to over N10 bil­lion’’, the report stated.

In a reaction on Wednesday, First Bank said its attention had been drawn to the story in some media publica­tions on the purported allegation of forgery against its officers by Is­mail Arisekola-Alao in respect of the Deed of Guarantee of Lister Oil Limited.

It said: “To set the record straight and for public Information, we categorically state that the allegation is untrue, spurious and deliberate attempt at the discolor­ation of facts.

“It is pertinent to state that the Bank and the late Arisekola-Alao family are currently en­gaged in a protracted legal matter in respect to a recovery process over a debt owed the Bank, and the forgery claim in the media now seems the new trend being employed by the Bank’s debtors to scuttle recov­ery process,” the bank said.

 

SOURCE: http://www.authorityngr.com/2016/09/Alleged-Forgery--Police-set-to-prosecute-5-First-Bank-s-managers