The chairman of Titan Trust Bank, Babatunde Lemo and the two other prominent shareholders are likely to forfeit their shares in both Titan Trust Bank and Union Bank Nigeria following their refusal to honour the December 28th invitation to them by the team of the Special Investigator.
The trio were via a December 24th letter invited to appear before the team of the Special Investigator on December 28th for a follow-up meeting on the investigation of the two banks.
However, a December 27th letter from their counsel, G-Elias, which was sighted by InsideBusinessNG, excused the trio from the December 28th meeting, citing their absence from the country.
G-Elias in the letter signed by Gbolahan Elias said the trio of Babatunde Lemo, Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara are away from the country and cannot return to Nigeria before the second week in January 2024.
Following this, the office of the Special Investigator has threatened to trigger the conditions in the December 24th letter referenced CR:3000/TSI/ABJ/Vol.1/69 which warned that they would forfeit their shares in the two banks if they failed to honour the December 28th invitation and provide/defend the documents requested.
“Kindly note that if Messrs. Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara refuse to attend this meeting and provide/defend the requested documents/information, it will be construed that they have decided to forfeit their purported shareholders in TTB and Union Bank of Nigeria irrespective of which vehicle that they are using to own the purported shares”.
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“Should you (Lemo) also refuse to attend the meeting to provide additional statement to your earlier statement made in August 2023, it will be construed that you misled the Nigerian public with your reaction in the Punch Newspapers which has gained wide publicity in both electronic and print media”, stated the December 24th invitation to the trio of Lemo, Savara and Vinks.
The trio were requested to appear with the documentation that led to the licensing of Titan Trust Bank and the acquisition of controlling shareholding of Union Bank of Nigeria by Luxis and Magna, proof of funds, international verifiable bank statements (From the incorporation of the entities to date) and the shareholders that gave interest-free loans to the two entities separately (name, nationality, source, of the fund, proof of such funds, bank statements) as well as the relationship of the entities with Andrew Chukwudi Ojei, Jerome Olagunju Shogbon, Rahul Savara, Winston Odeh, Adaeze Udensi, Ekene Samuel Loius, Godwin Emefiele, Macombe Omoile, Tunde Lemo, Mudasir Amry, Faruk Gumel, Oluremi Oni, Vink Corporation Middle Est FCZ (together with the details of the shareholder that also gave Vink Corporation interest-free loan.
They are also to provide details of how Trust receipts from (Standard Chartered Bank), Zenith Nigeria Plc, and Zenith Bank (UK) were involved in the entire arrangement and also, the minutes of the board meetings, copy of the audited financial statements and management letter that arose from the audit of the financial statements of the two entities listed in (1) above as well as those of TTB and UBN from 2018 to date.
Click to read:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CI0Rrg5DH3VTZsUwMQ4CmWH6t6K_c70M/view?usp=sharing
