The First City Monument Bank (FCMB) apologized to both Emmanuel Omale, General Superintendent of the Divine Hand of God Ministries, and Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who had been suspended, for over N573 million wrongly ‘credited’ to Mr Omale’s account.
The bank has published its apology in three national newspapers, The Guardian, Daily Trust and BusinessDay, according to the letter.
The letter was a sequel to a N5 billion lawsuit filed against FCMB by Mr. Omale ‘s counsel, Gordy Uche, over the bank’s report of an alleged payment to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
Mr Omale also accused the bank in its banker-customer relationship with his client of negligently violating the fiduciary duty of care.
According to the suit, the court also summoned the bank, either directly or by a legal representative, to appear within 30 days of the writ being served.
It added that the failure to appear before the court could give rise to a judgment in its absence.
Mr Omale ‘s suit concerned the report of the Presidential Committee which audited the EFCC between 2015 and 2020, which alleged that Mr Omale had been used “as an instrument for the embattled EFCC boss to launder money.”
The Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets said Mr Omale had received N573 million to purchase a property in Dubai for Mr Magu.
Mr Magu was investigated by the panel headed by Ayo Salami, a former president of the appeal court, over allegations of corruption and insubordination. The allegations were made by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
The bank had earlier said the N573 million could not have been accessed by Mr Omale as its system promptly corrected wrong credit without any amount being accessed.
In the letter dated September 11, titled “Re: Bank Negligence Occasioning Unique Investigation And Defamation To Our Client,” and signed by both legal counsel to FCMB, Adewale Fati and Olugbenga Elemide, the bank said it regrets the error and has accordingly published a public apology in three national newspapers as demanded by the senior advocate on behalf of Mr Omale.
The letter reads in part:
“Please be informed that in line with the undertaking contained in our aforementioned letter, we have published in three national newspapers (The Guardian newspaper, Daily Trust newspaper and Business Day newspaper) on September 11, 2020. Please find attached herewith copies of our public apology to Divine Hand of God Ministries.
“It is our hope that the public apology has assuaged the grievances of your client, having seen that the error was indeed not borne out of any malice towards them. Kindly extend our good wishes to your client, whilst assuring you of our warm professional regards.”
