Fidelity Bank and its employee, Frank Onumele have been named in the N6trillion NDDC fraud.
According to reliable sources, Frank Onumele, the general manager and regional head of Fidelity Bank’s Southern Commercial Operation, was arrested by Interpol for his role in the massive fraud.
Onumele we learnt was arrested in London, according to sources, for serving as a conduit pipe through which officials of the Niger Delta Development Company (NDDC) stole billions of Naira through Fidelity Bank.
According to our sources, Onumele’s arrest is already bearing dividends, as three former NDDC managing directors have been identified for arrest in the near future to answer for crimes done during their reign.
Since its inception, the NDDC, a government agency tasked with alleviating poverty in the Niger Delta area, has been in the spotlight for enormous and record-breaking fraud perpetrated by top management staff.
According to checks around N6 trillion has been unlawfully plundered from the agency over the years.
Despite significant evidence from investigations proving outright theft and the diversion of large sums of money intended to improve the lives of Niger Delta residents, no one has been convicted so far.
It should also be remembered that Fidelity Bank has been at the core of several high-profile frauds in Nigeria over the years, including the Diezani gate scandal involving Nnamdi Okonkwo, the bank’s former Chief Executive Officer, who recently suck cover in First Bank.
Only a few weeks ago, Fidelity Bank MD/CEO Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe and Okonkwo were invited to testify before a House Committee on Looted Funds to explain the bank’s role in several claims of fraud.
The EFCC has also prosecuted employees of the Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe-led Fidelity Bank on several occasions for allegedly stealing billions of naira from customers’ accounts.
