Directors culpable for failed defunct Skye Bank will be prosecuted – NDIC boss

The Managing Director of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, said on Wednesday in Abuja that all those culpable for failed defunct Skye Bank Plc will be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others. Ibrahim, who dropped this hint at a seminar organised for Justices of the Court of Appeal, said that the directors and management of the defunct Skye Bank Plc who contributed to the failure of the bank are being investigated by relevant agencies. The directors and management staff of the defunct Skye Bank Plc responsible for its failure would be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others”, he said. He said that the seminar which has become an annual event has contributed tremendously towards building capacity for judicial officers in law applicable to Bank Deposit Insurance in Nigeria. He said that legal issues involving the operation of the Deposit Insurance system are critical to the achievement of the Corporation’s statutory mandate of depositors’ protection, supervision, distress resolution and liquidation of failed insured institutions. Ibrahim maintained that the achievements of bank Deposit Insurance included the recent bridge bank that enabled Polaris Bank Limited takeover of the assets and liabilities of the defunct Skye Bank Plc. He described the take over as a milestone in the annuals of successful bank failure resolution measures in Deposits Insurance practice in Nigeria. He said that as a result of NDIC and CBN’s intervention, Polaris Bank successful acquired Skye Bank under the bridge bank mechanism and operates in the 300 branches of the defunct Skye Bank Plc premises all over the country with no disruption of banking transaction, thus saved over 6,000 employees of the failed Skye Bank Plc from being out of jobs while depositors have access to their total deposits. The President of Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, in her address, commended Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)’s sensitisation seminar for the Justices of the Court of Appeal. She said the seminar would ensure financial system stability particularly as it continues to provide opportunity for justices to learn more about the workings of the financial service industry. Justice Bukachuwa noted that this year’s NDIC seminar with the theme: “Challenges to Deposit Insurance law and Practice in Nigeria”, is in recognition of the fact that Bank Supervisors in the financial service sector and the Judiciary are partners in the promotion of financial system stability in the country. She also noted that the Deposits Insurance Scheme implemented through the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation is a very critical component of the financial safety net arrangement to protect depositors. She added that the objective of this year’s seminar is to bring to fore the challenges to the law and practice of Deposit Insurance law. Andrew Orolua, Abuja