Olam Nigeria Limited has paid a huge bail bond of N1billion to secure the release of one of its directors, Prakash Kanth.
The payment was made into a special recovery account
operated by the State Security Service, SSS.
Other top executives of the company have reportedly fled the
country in the wake of the arrest of the governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and his accomplices.
Insiders told our reporter that the SSS requested the
humongous bail bond because of the gravity of the allegations against the
company and the amount involved.
A payment slip seen by this newspaper showed that the money
was paid into a Treasury Single Account, TSA, domiciled at Access Bank on
Monday.
Another document also showed that one of Olam’s many
subsidiaries, Micro Feed Nigeria Limited, Lagos, paid the money “in connection
with the ongoing investigation of money laundering involving Prakash Kanth.”
Mr Kanth, who spent days in the SSS detention facility in
Abuja, is Olam’s director of Corporate Affairs and Legal in Nigeria.
In previous reports, the SSS opened probe into Olam’s
multibillion dollar FX deals from 2015 to date.
The Nigerian secret police is also requesting from Olam
evidence of payment of tax, corporate tax income, VAT, export proceeds and
capital importation by the company and its subsidiaries during the period under
review.
The SSS also requested from the company an analysis of all
forex outflows from 2015 to date, showing commercial banks involved and the
beneficiaries of the forex and the Bureau de Change, BDC license issued to Olam
Nigeria Limited or any of its subsidiaries.
The service also requested records of the company’s
expatriate quota; list of the approved expatriates and; particulars of serving
and former MDs, CFOs and financial controllers of the company, including their
names, addresses and countries of residence.
Although Olam had countered the previous reports, denying
wrongdoing in a statement on Monday, security sources and FX players said the
company had questions to answer regarding forex fraud.