The management of Access Bank Plc has debunked reports that the Bank’s Group Managing Director, Herbert Wigwe was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
A statement by the Bank on Saturday explained that Wigwe and some other official of the Bank were invited by the Commission for interrogation over Slok Nigeria Limited, a company owned by the governor of Abia State, Orji Kalu currently in jail.
Recall that Kalu was handed a 12-year jail term last December after being convicted of N7.65 billion fraud. The court also ordered the winding up of his company.
READ ALSO: Court Denies Ex-Gov. Orji Kalu Bail Pending Appeal
The statement said: “We wish to state that the issue essentially relates to the credit facilities that were availed Slok Nigeria Limited (‘Slok’) by the defunct Diamond Bank Plc (‘Diamond’) and which were secured by Slok’s assets charged to Diamond. Access Bank had inherited the Slok credit following the recent merger of Diamond with Access Bank.
“Given the differing interests of the commission and the bank on the assets of Slok deriving from the court’s recent judgement on Slok, the commission had invited for interrogation officials of Access Bank who were handling the bank’s recovery efforts on Slok credit including its Group Managing Director.”
The bank stated that it believed that issues relating to Slok investigation have been resolved considering “fruitful engagement between the bank and the commission.”
