The management of Polaris Bank Limited has blamed the previous management of defunct Skye Bank Plc for its inability to transfer the controversial $223.9m belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) until recently when it was directed to do so.
The bank satisfactorily explained that it was simply not in a position to remit the funds as a whole as it had been lent out to various customers by the previous management of the bank.
According to the bank, following the CBN’s regulatory Intervention in the defunct Skye bank on July 4, 2016, the new board and management immediately set out to address the various irregularities and shortcomings that had led to the intervention, one of which was the inability of the bank to remit the NNPC deposits which had been in the custody of the bank for several years to the TSA, as directed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) due to liquidity issues.
It said the NNPC account had been opened in 2012, under the previous board and management of the bank and the deposits had been utilised to finance loans to companies in the oil and gas industry, in transactions that were by their nature long-term and were also severely affected by adverse developments in that sector following the crash in crude oil prices, which meant that the obligors were unable to meet their obligations to the bank.
The bank noted that, from the moment the current board and management took over the running of the defunct Skye Bank, they interacted and fully co-operated with several agencies including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Inspector General of Police Special Investigation Panel, the Department of State Security (DSS), Presidential Panel on Recovery of Public Property, Senate Committee on Banking and the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Treasury Single Account among others.
Recall that the bank had in 2019 after a lawsuit slammed on it by the now-disbanded Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property over funds, made a proposal to commence installment payment of the sum of $10million monthly into the NNPC TSA account with the CBN, and began doing so immediately.
Eventually, the FGN being satisfied with the bank’s transparent and diligent conduct in remitting the monthly funds without fall, entered into Terms of Settlement with the bank for the continued monthly remittances of N10m to the TSA.
