Details As Heritage Bank Suffers Another Major Blow

Charles Oyelesi

The trouble mounts for financial institution Heritage Bank.

Emerging details have it that the bank battling fight for control amongst investors and perception of troubled operations has another major challenge to deal with.

The bank has been ordered to permanently forfeit a staggering N157billion to the Federal Government.

The development comes in the face of an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission claiming the funds suspected to be proceeds of crime.

In court, EFCC investigator Oghare Ogbole asserted that Heritage bank could not provide an explanation for the transactions that made up the huge fund.

The female investigator stated in a report monitored on sahareporters.com “Heritage Bank did not provide any legitimate explanation for the above transactions (involving the sums) and consequently returned the said money through 16 separate bank drafts issued in favour of the EFCC Recovered Funds Account.

“Attached and marked as exhibits EFCC 7A to 7F are the bank drafts representing the refund of the sums of N157,000,000,000 by Heritage Bank Plc, on the sums of $327,132.35, £167.85 and €157.90,”

The Justice Chuka Obizor of the Federal High Court in Lagos gave the order for permanent forfeiture of the fund to the federal government after an interim forfeiture order was made in August and published in national newspapers by the EFCC requesting anyone interested should show up in court and prove why the N157billion should not be forfeited to the government.

Nobody showed up to claim the fund or oppose the permanent forfeiture of the fund.

Multiple sources confirmed to societynow.ng that losing such a staggering fund is a major blow for Heritage Bank.

‘’even a very healthy bank, pulling out such a huge fund from its operation is would affect not to talk of a bank trying hard to survive” a source stated.