TheCable

A police report dismissing the claims made by Tunde Ayeni, former chairman of the board of directors, Skye Bank Plc, against Hosa Okunbo, his erstwhile business partner, has been disputed by persons familiar with the matter. 

Ayeni had, in a petition to the police, accused Okunbo of gross mismanagement and criminal diversion of company funds.

He had claimed that Okunbo, who had been his business partner since 2003, deceived him and took over control of the company — Ocean Marine Solutions Limited — while he was undergoing a court trial. 

But the inspector-general of police (IGP) monitoring unit, in its report sent to Augustine Alegeh, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Okunbo’s lawyer, had said Ayeni’s accusations were false and baseless.

Sources close to Ayeni, however, told TheCable that the police investigation into the matter leaves a lot to be desired. 

“It is common knowledge that the chairman, Okunbo, who is the subject of the petition, is in faraway London. So when did the police interrogate him? When did he write a statement to the police? Did the police visit Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMS) or invite the finance and accounts department of the company before arriving at its findings? Given all these holes, it is difficult to dismiss the allegation that investigators may have been compromised in the course of its investigation,” a source said. 

Another source said many questions related to the case are begging for answers.

The source said: “Did the police freeze the accounts of the company while investigating these allegations? Did the police do a forensic combing of the books of the company in order to verify the authenticity or otherwise of the claims by the petitioner? Were the OMS bankers called in by the police to authenticate the financial transactions of the company?”

The source also alleged that the police never reached out to Ayeni to request for any documents to back up his allegations while the investigation lasted.

Ayeni had earlier kicked against the police report through his lawyer, Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).