Pan Ocean’s N240bn part of N500bn bad debt that sunk Skye Bank—Auditors

A yet to be published audit report of the insider dealings that ruined Skye Bank  indicates that non performing facilities granted to Pan Ocean Group contributed to ruining the bank. The company secured one of the biggest loan portfolio with the bank which has not been repaid. The report of the audit investigation showed that while Pan Ocean obtained N240 billion from the bank, the total non performing loan portfolio that went bad was N500 billion owed Skye Bank by heavy debtors. This high profile debtors to the bank led to the collapse of Skye Bank Plc and its eventual takeover by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, about two years ago. 

The operating licence of Skye Bank was revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on September 21, 2018, as the bank could no longer meet its obligation. According to the audit report by the independent auditors, Pan Ocean Group’s cumulatively secured a total of more than N240 billion, almost half of the total debt of Skye Bank, thus making it the most heavily indebted company to the bank. The remaining huge debt is owed by nine other other customers of the bank. The report said that most of the loans that went bad was as a result of insider dealing with board members approving loans for themselves or their cronies. 

It was gathered that top on the list of issues that killed the hitherto big bank included serious insider dealings, non-existent corporate governance structure, loan racketeering to friends and cronies and bad management. All these malpractices and reckless abuse by the leadership of the bank, made it possible for a few individuals to gratuitously expose the bank to the tune of over N500 billion. A source, who wishes anonymity, observed that “Although there is a long list of those who ordinarily should be in jail as a result of their roles in the eventual collapse of the bank, it was frightening to note that only one individual accounted for a debt exposure to the bank in excess of over N240 billion, which is more than the annual budget of the country’s ministry of works for instance. “Additional details of the dirty deals of these transactions showed that Pan Ocean Group, owed the bank over N240 billion.