Reps Order Arrest Of Ecobank MD, Probes Oxford Group

 

The House of Representatives committee on Public Petitions has ordered that the Inspector General of Police should produce the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Plc, Jeremy Awori, during its sitting of September 17, 2024 to answer to charges of wrongful illegal and fraudulent operation of the personal account of one Grace Nwamina. Expressing dissatisfaction over the handling of the matter by the bank, the Chairman of the Committee, Mike Etaba, on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, directed that the managing director be brought in person so the matter can be resolved permanently. He noted that the police report on the case indicted the bank on several grounds and it is only the MD that can guarantee its resolution.

In a related development, the committee has ordered a full scale probe of a certain Oxford group of companies accused of allegedly defrauding innocent Nigerians who fall for their call for investment gimmicks. Narrating the ordeal of over 500 unsuspecting investors who have been allegedly defrauded, Olamilekan Akinduro on behalf of the aggrieved investors, lamented that well-advertised public offers of juicy investment portfolios by Oxford International Group which most Nigerians fell for since 2021 has turned out to be a scam as the company could not meet up with the promised investments after several years of turning investors around.

He informed the house that the Executive Chairman of the group who used to be known as Teni Adesanya has surreptitiously changed his name to Babatunde Adesanya. Most of the investors had invested over fifty million each without a trace of their investments. Sensing a wide spread scam of innocent Nigerians, committee chairman Etaba ordered that Securities and Exchange Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission and relevant law enforcement agencies be involved in the investigation. The matter will be heard again on September 18.

Reacting to the allegations, Segun Akinloye, Counsel to the Oxford Group said his client was paying people on daily basis but pointed out that the matter was sub judice hence he couldn’t speak much on it.