The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on Capital Market has queried Ms Arunma Oteh, the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for approving Access bank's acquisition of Intercontinental bank.
Rep. Ibrahim El-Sudi (PDP-Taraba), the Chairman of the committee, issued the query at the on-going public hearing of the ad hoc committee of the House investigating the capital market operations.
However, the Managing Director of Access bank and his Deputy were alleged to be indebted to the Intercontinental bank to the tune of N16 billion.?
Responding, Oteh? said that she was not aware that Access bank was owing Intercontinental bank at the time.
“I was not aware that the managing driector and his deputy were owing Intercontinental bank.”
The committee also observed irregularities in the engagement of two Access bank staff.
Ms Daisy Ekineh, Executive Commissioner Operations, and her counterparts in the Legal and Enforcement Unit, Mr Charles Udora and Alhaji Lawan Sani Stores, all denied knowledge of the engagement of two staff of Access bank PLC on secondment.
?They also distanced themselves from Oteh’s road map, a pet project towards launching the Nigerian capital market into a first class entity.
Udora? alleged that there was a total break down of official communication, coupled with mutual disrespect and mistrust as well as tendency to run a one man show by Oteh.
He said the engagement of contract staff at the commission was affecting the moral of the staff.
“There was a young man who graduated in 1998 and was made a director. The contract system that we have has created friction amongst the staff.
“We seem to be in a situation of regulatory comatose. Our staffs are no longer given us what we need to regulate the market.”
?Oteh, however, argued that? there was no conflict of interest since the two staff had no direct access to the commission's regulatory functions.
Ekineh on her part, said there was need for the leaders to respect their subordinates.
“I will agree that there is a dysfunction because we have not been working as a team. I would suggest that we should communicate more, face to face instead of text messages.’’
On May 8, the committee threatened to arrest Oteh if she failed to appear before it on May 9.
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