Fidelity Bank defends $115m transaction involving Mrs. Diezani

Fidelity Bank Plc yesterday defended the $115 million transaction involving former Petroleum Resources Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, saying it complied with the extant regulations on suspicious transactions reporting.

According to The Nation, Financial institutions are required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Regulations, 2013 (as amended) to forward their AML/CFT Compliance Manual to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for off-site review of the document as well as carry out enhanced customer due diligence for high risk customers and effective Know Your Customer (KYC) processes.

A statement signed by the bank’s management said the transactions were duly reported as required by the regulators and that it is “cooperating fully with the authorities on the investigation”.

“Our attention has been drawn to reports in the media on investigations into transactions undertaken by the Bank in the normal course of business in 2015. The transactions are now the subject matter of investigations by the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” it said.

“We assure our numerous stakeholders, including our customers, that we are working assiduously towards a quick resolution of the issues.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has detained the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nnamdi Okonkwo, and Head of Operations Martins Izuogbe for allegedly receiving $115 million from Mrs. Alison-Madueke. Investigators believe the cash was meant for the bribery of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to change the results of last year’s presidential election.

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