EFCC Presents Fourth Witness in N76bn, $31.5m Fraud Trial of Ex-AMCON MD

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Friday, November 28, 2025, presented its fourth prosecution witness, PW4, Bawa Usman Kaltungo, in the ongoing trial of a former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, over an alleged N76bn and $31.5 million fraud before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.

Kuru, alongside Kamilu Alaba Omokide, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, and Super Bravo Limited, are being prosecuted on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, and abuse of office.

One of the counts reads: “That you, Union Bank Nigeria Plc, sometime in 2011 or thereabouts, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intention of causing and/or inducing unwarranted sale of Arik Air loans and bank guarantees with Union Bank, made false statements to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), regarding Arik Air Limited’s performing loans, following which you transferred a bogus figure of N71, 000,000,000.00 (Seventy-One Billion Naira) to AMCON.”

Another count reads: “That you, Ahmed Lawal, Kuru, Kamilu Alaba Omokide as Receiver Manager of Arik Air Limited, and Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air Limited in Receivership, sometime in 2022 or thereabout, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, fraudulently converted to the use of NG Eagle Limited the total sum of N4,900,000,000.00 (Four Billion Nine Hundred Million Naira only), property of Arik Air Limited”

At the resumed sitting on Friday, November 28, 2025, Kaltungo, an operative of the EFCC, detailed the Commission’s findings from its investigation into transactions involving Arik Air, Union Bank, AMCON, and several foreign lenders.

Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Wahab Shittu, SAN, Kaltungo told the court that documents obtained from Union Bank and foreign lenders showed that the bank acted only as a guarantor for aircraft purchases by Arik Air, contrary to claims that it issued loan facilities to the airline.

He stated that a Union Bank official, one Omokaro, confirmed to investigators that the bank never issued any loan offer letter to Arik Air.

He stated that the minutes of a meeting held on February 4, 2011 in London also showed that Union Bank acknowledged that Arik’s foreign loans were performing and serviced as at when due.

He further testified that a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s official, who signed a directive on the sale of non-performing loans, clarified that the directive did not apply to foreign loans or guarantees, thereby contradicting Union Bank’s submissions to AMCON.

The witness further stated that the EFCC found out that Union Bank “could not justify” the N71 billion it transferred to AMCON.

He added that the bank made false representations by classifying performing foreign loans as non-performing.

In his further testimony, he said that Arik Air paid a sum of N5 billion to Union Bank for a loan the bank could not prove ever existed.

“My team spent one week inspecting Arik Air’s facility in Lagos, where we discovered that several aircraft were vandalised and stripped of parts and that a brand-new engine was missing from the store, with no documentation or maintenance records available.

“Arik’s fleet was reduced from 23 aircraft to only two under AMCON’s receiver managers,” he told the court.

He also said that Arik’s Chief Financial Officer disclosed that between 2021 and August 2024, the receiver manager spent N17.7 billion on leasing aircraft engines.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kaltungo further alleged that the transfer of three Arik aircraft to Super Bravo Limited, and subsequently to NG Eagle, a company linked to Kuru, was not supported by any deed of transfer or NCAA approval.

“The aircraft transfered to NG Eagle was unsubstantiated.

“No evidence was found of any payment for the acquisition of the three aircraft,” he added.

According to him, “NG Eagle later sold parts of Arik assets for N140 million, with no record that the proceeds were applied to offset any loan.

He also told the court that its team found no effort to recover $950,000 paid to Olympus in Greece for an aircraft lease that was never delivered.

The prosecution, through the PW4, tendered several documents that were admitted as exhibits by the court.

Justice Dada adjourned the case till December 8, 2025, and February 25 & 26, 2026, for continuation of trial.