THIS DAWN — A resurfaced petition alleging historic irregularities in Fidelity Bank Plc’s 2004 Private Placement and 2005 Initial Public Offer (IPO) has drawn renewed public attention, even as related matters are now reportedly before the courts.
The petition, dated March 29, 2011, was authored by a Lagos-based shareholder, Francis Ogboko, and addressed to the then Inspector General of Police.
The document outlines a series of allegations concerning the bank’s capital-raising exercises nearly two decades ago.
The petition names several individuals, including former Anambra State governor Chief Willie Obiano—who at the time served in senior management at Fidelity Bank—alongside various bank officials.
However, because court proceedings are ongoing, none of the claims in the petition can be examined or interpreted as established facts.
According to the 2011 petition, the strong subscription levels recorded during the bank’s Private Placement and IPO were, in the petitioner’s view, influenced by transactions involving depositors’ funds.
Ogboko alleges that funds sourced from vault withdrawals or cheque exchanges with other banks were deposited into the accounts of third-party “beneficiaries”.
The beneficiaries subsequently used the funds to purchase Fidelity Bank shares.
These claims are currently being tested in court.
The petition details a purported accounting process whereby branch officials allegedly booked cash movements as:
- Debit: Head Office Branch Customer Account
- Credit: Branch Vault Account
At day’s end, the petition claims, designated Head Office staff allegedly reversed the entries by debiting what it describes as “beneficiary loan accounts” and crediting the Head Office Branch Customer Account.
According to the petitioner, these “loan accounts” were created without applications, collateral, or documented approval.
The petition states that this process aimed to regularise the funding of the share purchases.
These descriptions remain the assertions of the petitioner alone.
A central account, identified as Head Office Branch Customer Account No. 160370033, is cited in the petition as the vehicle used to monitor the alleged cash deposits.
The submission includes several appendices, which the petitioner says contain internal memos, transaction records, and instructions purportedly issued by certain senior officials at the time.
The documents were cited by This Dawn.
Appendix 1, attached below, according to the petitioner’s description, contains an instruction from a senior operations executive directing regional operations heads to mobilise cash and deposit it into specific beneficiary accounts.
Other appendices allegedly outline the transactions undertaken by various branches during the offer periods.
Ogboko further argues in the petition that the alleged arrangements may have created substantial exposures that could become unrecoverable if share prices fell, potentially harming investors.
He urged authorities to conduct a full investigation into what he described as misleading and irregular practices.
As at the time of publication, there has been no new public comment from Fidelity Bank Plc or any of the individuals named in the petition.
Given that elements of the matter are currently before a competent court, all parties are presumed innocent unless and until liability is established through due legal process.
Analysts note that the resurfacing of the petition underscores ongoing public interest in historic capital-market governance.
They, however, emphasise that the issues must now be left for judicial determination without prejudice or speculation.
