TheCable

Tunde Ayeni, a former chairman of the board of directors, Skye Bank Plc, has kicked against a police report dismissing the allegation he brought against Hosa Okunbo, his former business partner. 

In a petition to both the police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ayeni had accused Okunbo of gross mismanagement and criminal diversion of company funds. 

Ayeni 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, which he claimed had distracted him.

In a letter by the inspector-general of police (IGP) monitoring unit, addressed to Augustine Alegeh, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Okunbo’s lawyer, the police said Ayeni’s accusations are baseless. 

“From the foregoing, it is pertinent to state that the allegations of stealing and criminal diversion of company funds as alleged by the complainant — Dr. Tunde Ayeni — against the suspect, Capt. Hosa Wells-Okunbo, could not be established as there was documentary evidence that was provided by the suspect — Capt. Hosa Wells-Okunbo — which clearly shows that Capt. Hosa Okunbo has lawfully acquired Dr. Tunde Ayeni’s interest in Ocean Marine Solutions Limited (OMS) for the valuable consideration of N2,000,000,000.00 (Two Billion Naira) only,” part of the letter read.  

The police added that “the allegation of criminal diversion of company funds is baseless, malicious and false as it hasn’t been proven by the complainant”.  

But reacting, Femi Falana, counsel to Ayeni, said the IGP monitoring team has not done much on the matter. 

The lawyer explained that the parties had earlier reached a resolution until police said it had a report. 

“Contrary to media report, the Monitoring Unit of the Inspector-General of Police has not commenced investigation into the allegations contained in the petition of Tunde Ayeni against his business partner, Capt Hosa Okunbo. Apart from inviting Tunde Ayeni to adopt his petition, the Monitoring Unit of the Inspector-General of Police has not taken any other step in the matter,” Falana wrote in a statement on Monday.  

“Specifically, Capt. Okunbo has not been invited to react to the said petition. To that extent, the petition has not been challenged in any material particular. 

“Meanwhile, both parties have since agreed to explore an amicable  resolution of  their business dispute. Consequently, the lawyers of the parties have held fruitful discussions in respect of the claims and counter claims of their clients. The IGP Monitoring Unit has been fully briefed of the progress made so far in the matter. 

“However, in a desperate move to frustrate the amicable resolution of the dispute, the IGP Monitoring Unit is alleged to have produced a “report” of an investigation that has not been conducted. As if that was not enough, the ‘report’ was addressed to Capt Hosa Okunbo’s lawyer and circulated to media houses. But up till now, the IGP Monitoring Unit has not deemed it fit to furnish us with a copy of the ‘report’.” 

Falana added that Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, has been asked to assign the petition to another team of officers to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations.