Why We Can’t Honour Invitation – Titan Trust Bank Limited And Union Bank Plc Investors To CBN Investigator

The Chairman of Titan Trust Bank Limited, Tunde Lemo, and two others have revealed that they would not appear for interrogation today before the Special Investigator probing the activities of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Other Related Entities, Jim Obazee.

Naija News reports that the trio made this known in a letter on Wednesday to the investigator by their counsel, Prof. Gbolahan Elias (SAN).

The other invitees are the two largest ultimate investors in Titan Trust Bank Limited and Union Bank Plc, Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara.

Recall that Obazee had given the trio today’s deadline to explain how they owned Titan Trust Bank and sourced $ 500 million to acquire the Union Bank.

Barely 24 hours before their appearance before the Special Investigator in Abuja, they wrote through their lawyer that they would not be able to honour the invitation due to family reasons.

Titan Trust Bank and the Union Bank Plc (UBN) counsel, Gbolahan Elias, had asked the Special Investigator to give his clients more time.

According to him, Lemo and the two largest ultimate investors in the banks will not be in Nigeria before the second week in January 2024.

In a December 27 letter to the Team of Special Investigators, the counsel said the invitees “will honour the invitations fully soon after they come in,” adding that the bank would resubmit all information required by the Special Investigator.

The letter was titled: “Re: CBN Investigation Activities: Invitation for a Follow-Up Meeting with the Special Investigator.”

The letter reads: “We trust that this letter meets you well. We are lawyers to: Titan Trust Bank Ltd. (“TTB”) and Union Bank Plc (“Union”) (the “Banks”). We respectfully have their instructions to write this letter in respect of the invitations in your letter to TTB dated December 23, 2023.

“Unfortunately, both Mr. Tunde Lemo and the two largest ultimate investors in the Banks (Mr. Cornelius Vink and Mr. Rahul Savara) are away from Nigeria at the moment for family and other reasons. That is typically so at this time of the year. They are not due to be in Nigeria before the second week in January 2024. They will honour the invitations fully soon after they come in.

“With regard to the information requested, which we submitted earlier on 1st September 2023 at the DSS HQ as evidenced in Annex 1 therewith, we will resubmit the information tomorrow morning for your kind review.

“The individual invitees and the Banks re-iterate their willingness and readiness to co-operate with your good selves in your important work.

“We respectfully thank you very much for your attention. Please direct all further enquiries on this matter to our law firm.”