The Tony Elumelu connection
• Defunct Air Nigeria boss implicated by former finance director
By Tola Ogundipe
It is no accident that Jimoh Ibrahim has become a person of interest in the ongoing anti-corruption investigations. The controversial businessman has a knack for being in the news for the wrong reasons, it would seem. However, this time around, he cuts the symbol of a crook bearing the insignia of a double-cross, according to news and rumours doing the rounds about the failed aviation and media entrepreneur.
In the wake of widespread criticism of his alleged complicity in the embezzlement of the N120 billion aviation intervention fund, you could be forgiven for thinking that every inch of Jimoh Ibrahim that is not shady is infinitely roguish.
Findings revealed that the big boss of defunct Air Nigeria, got a whooping N35.5 billion from the aviation fund. When it became clear that he would enjoy the largesse from the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan, Jimoh allegedly approached Chairman of United Bank of Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu and urged him to assist in acquiring the money from the Bank of Industry (BOI) through UBA. Elumelu reportedly told Jimoh that it was impossible for him to have access to such amount of funding from the BOI. Jimoh chuckled at assured Tony that he would get the money. He said it had already been awarded to him and that he only needed to use Tony’s bank as a conduit for the money.
Soon after Tony confirmed Jimoh’s claims, he allegedly recommended one of his very senior managers as the go-to guy in fast-tracking the acquisition of such big kill.
Tony with excitement assured Jimoh that the man he recommended will do a very good job. Indeed, the latter did very well and the money came out from the Bank of Industry without hassles. All the parties involved eventually smiled to the bank.
But soon after Jimoh acquired the money from BOI, his airline crumbled. But the failed airline operator simply walked away. Consequently, a lot of his employees at the moribund airline suffered; some of them died in penury because they couldn’t get their salaries and other benefits.
The sad and highly disgraceful incident was swept under the carpet by the Jonathan administration but thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption fight, the matter has become a front burner in the ongoing anti-corruption campaign.
Recently, the public was treated to a mild drama at the investigative public hearing on the alleged mismanagement of the N120bn Aviation Intervention Fund organised by the Senate Committee on Aviation, when the Chairman of the defunct Air Nigeria, Jimoh Ibrahim, denied collecting N35.5bn from the Bank of Industry.
But members of the committee and other stakeholders watched with amazement as the Group General Counsel for United Bank for Africa Plc, Samuel Adikamkwu, corroborated the position of a former Executive Director of Finance of Air Nigeria, John Nnorom, that Ibrahim actually applied and obtained the loan through UBA.
Ibrahim’s former employee, Nnorom, told the committee that he did due diligence on the loan and secured necessary documentation, and decided to be servicing the loan with N228m monthly for nine months before the airline collapsed.
He alleged that the diversion of the fund to other ventures led to the collapse of the airline. Nnorom stated, “The very moment the N35.5bn intervention fund was paid into the airline’s account through the United Bank for Africa, it disappeared into one of the private accounts of the owner without any amount from the fund injected into the airline, paving the way for its eventual collapse.
“The Aviation Intervention Fund was taken by Air Nigeria. In my capacity as the executive director of finance, I needed documents to pay and I did due diligence and I discovered that Air Nigeria actually took the loan,” stated Nnorom.
He added, “Jimoh Ibrahim said he did not take a loan. He said he acquired Air Nigeria and paid the money 100 per cent and that he was given a clean bill by UBA. But you cannot finance a loan if it is not bad after some time.
“The question is how that loan entered the account of Air Nigeria again. It is the intervention fund that was transferred back to UBA, which the bank is now servicing even after the airline was no longer in existence. I paid the loan, about N228m, for about nine months.”
