From Fred Itua, Abuja
FORMER chairman of defunct Air Nigeria, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim, yesterday, created a mild scene at the investigative public hearing on the alleged mismanagement of N120 billion Aviation Intervention Fund, organised by the Senate Committee on Aviation when he denied collecting N35.5 billion from the Bank of Industry (BoI).
But, members of the committee and other stakeholders watched with dismay as the Group General Counsel of a first generation bank, Mr . Samuel Adikamkwu corroborated the position of a former executive director of Finance of Air Nigeria, Mr. John Nnorom, insisting that Ibrahim actually applied and obtained the loan through the bank.
Nnorom, who worked for Ibrahim until the airline went under, told the committee that he did due diligence on the loan and secured necessary documentation while in the employment of Air Nigeria before he decided to service the loan with N228 million monthly for nine months before the airline collapsed.
He insisted that the alleged diversion of the fund to other ventures led to the collapse of the airline.
“The very moment the N35.5 billion intervention fund was paid into the airline’s account through the bank, it disappeared into one of the private accounts of the owner without any amount from the fund injected into the airline, paving the way for its eventual collapse.”
Nnorom affirmed that, “the Aviation Intervention Fund was taken by Air Nigeria. In my capacity as the Executive Director of Finance, to pay the loan, I needed document to pay and I did due diligence and I discovered that Air Nigeria actually took the loan.
“Jimoh Ibrahim said he did not take a loan. He said he acquired Air Nigeria and paid the money 100 per cent and he was given a clean bill by the bank. But, you cannot finance a loan if it is not bad after some time.
“The question is how the loan entered the account of Air Nigeria again. It was the intervention fund that was transferred back to the bank, which the bank is now servicing even after the airline is no longer in existence. I paid the loan, about N228 million per month for about nine months.”
But, Ibrahim argued that BoI did not give him any loan, but, that, it was the first generation bank which actually applied and obtained the loan which had nothing to do with Air Nigeria because the money which was used to resuscitate the defunct airline, was sourced from his conglomerate.
“Government did not give me loan and I did not collect any loan from the Bank of Industry or any other agency of government. What has government to do with me?
“When we bought Air Nigeria, I did not see any intervention fund, no cash was paid to me or credited to Air Nigeria from the fund. When we came in, Air Nigeria had a total of about $250 million with two aircraft parked at the terminal with nobody using it,” he said.