by Akan Ido

Former financial controller of Intercontinental Bank Plc. (now Access Bank Plc.), Akin Fabunmi, revealed in court yesterday that the bank paid N40bn to Tropics Securities, a stockbroking firm which Erastus Akingbola’s wife, Anthonia, has interests in, when buying its own shares from customers in 2008.

Fabunmi said this at a Lagos High Court in Ikeja, while testifying as the fourth defence witness in the ongoing trial of Akingbola alongside the General Manager of Tropics Finance Limited, Mr. Bayo Dada.

According to reports, the former financial controller said a total of N179bn was paid to different stock brokers used by the bank to buy its own shares for its customers.

He said:

“Though there are many stockbrokers used to purchase the shares, there are three major  ones among them. They are the Intercontinental Securities Management Limited, Summit Finance Company Limited, and Tropics Securities Limited and Tropics securities Limited in which Akingbola has interest.

“The total amount of N179bn was paid from the Time Deposit Account of the bank. N40bn was paid to Tropics Finance.

“I got to know that the bank’s shares were bought for the customers of the bank from the CSCS statement of account. I sighted the CSCS statements of account for the payments for ISML and Summit Finance, but I could not sight the CSCS statements of account for about N18.6bn of the N40bn paid to Tropics Securities.”

Tropics Securities Limited is a subsidiary of Tropics Finance  in which Akingbola and his wife are signatories to its accounts.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had charged Akingbola and Dada with the theft of about N47.1bn belonging to the bank.

And the plot thickens…