Money laundering scam rocks Wema Bank Plc, Dana Airline

Last updated: 2019/08/16 at 11:06 AM

starconnect Published 16 August 2019

Mr. Segun Oloketuyi, Managing Director, Wema Bank Plc

Admin l Friday, August 16, 2019

LAGOS, Nigeria – Wema Bank Plc, one of the oldest banks in Nigeria is in trouble over its role in the collection of Dana Airline’s inflight donation. The donations were collected in behalf of Sri Sai Vandana Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) between 2014 and 2018.

The money which were domiciled in Wema Bank Plc were allegedly collected without due process. And for this, Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has put Wema Bank and Dana Airline on the watchlist.

Dana established Sri Sai Vandana Foundation in 1995 and commenced inflight donation in partnership with the Sickle Cell Foundation of Nigeria. We gathered that after the airline suffered a major crash in Lagos in 2012 in which 153 persons died, it stopped the collaboration, ‘re-strategised’, and solely ran the inflight donations.

Sources say Dana Airline through Sri Sai Vandana Foundation, got the inflight donations between January 2014 and October 2018, raking in millions of naira which were deposited into Wema Bank account number 0121291839 without due registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a prerequisite for complying with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) regulations.

Speaking on the development, Spokesperson of the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade said the agency will take up the issue.

“We will investigate and prosecute the crime element once a prima facie case is established,” he said, adding that the company will be sanctioned accordingly.

“The company cannot run without humans. So, it is when everyone denies being members of the company that we go after the individuals”, he said.

The Money Laundering Prohibition Act stipulates that any Designated Non – Financial Institution, DNFI, must register with SCUML in order to legally operate in Nigeria.

Punishment for contravention includes “suspension or revocation of license, fines or imprisonment or both,” according to Sections 15 to 17 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 (as amended).

It also stipulates a maximum of 14 years jail term for an individual but in case of corporate organisation, “a fine of not less than 100 percent of the funds and properties acquired as a result of the offense committed”.