CITIBANK SUFFERS WHIMS OF THE WELL-CONNECTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000216 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT PLEASE PASS TO JAMES WILLIAMS, OPIC DEPT PLEASE PASS TO TDA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2017 TAGS: ECPS ECON EINV EIND PGOV PREL NI SUBJECT: CITIBANK SUFFERS WHIMS OF THE WELL-CONNECTED LAGOS 00000216 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (C) Summary: Doing business in Nigeria has its special challenges, even for a well-known international bank such as Citibank. In this instance, a loan gone bad has turned into a criminal case with Citibank and its top officials as defendants. Although Citibank received a civil court judgment against the defaulting debtor, that debtor used his political connections to initiate criminal proceedings against Citibank in an effort to avoid debt payment. It has taken cabinet-level intervention to bring some reason to this rather peculiar affair. However, this matter, which has been turned on its head by an incessant, politically-connected debtor is not yet over. End summary. -------------- Background -------------- ¶2. (C) Chief Mike Emerah, well-known and flamboyant owner of a transport company in Anambra State and a lead figure in the Anambra State chapter of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO),in 2000 obtained a loan from Citibank for the purchase of a fleet of imported buses. Loan collateral was the fleet of buses. Things started going awry when Emerah was caught by authorities attempting to clear the buses through customs using fraudulent documentation so as to reduce customs charges. Because of this brush with customs and other complications, Emerah was unable to pay the loan installments. Citibank called the loan and Emerah was unable to cure the default. Consequently, Citibank paid the ensuing fines and took possession of the buses. The buses were eventually sold, and then Citibank obtained a deficiency judgment against Emerah for the difference between the total loan amount and the amount for which the buses were sold. ¶3. (C) Emerah apparently reached the conclusion that the best defense was a good offense. In 2004, Emerah launched accusations that Citibank defrauded him by illegally obtaining customs clearances and then selling the buses. Emerah then embarked on an energetic mission to find allies in his hounding of Citibank. His first entreaty was to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),which did not pursue the case. Emerah then approached the State Security Service (SSS),where he was advised that he was in the wrong and that he should satisfy his debt to Citibank. ¶4. (C) Undeterred, Emerah evidently began to seek a political solution to his legal predicament. Apparently, he found a sympathetic ear attached to someone in the office of Dr. Andy Uba, Special Advisor to President Obasanjo. Uba is also the PDP gubernatorial candidate for Anambra State, Emerah's home. Uba's youngest brother, Chris, has a longstanding patron relationship with Anambra's NARTO chapter. Once the police and the attorneys in the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) Office were apprised that Emerah was known to the Uba family, the wheels of justice started to spin in a rather burlesque manner. A foreign ministry official told us that after a DPP attorney was summoned to meet an official in Dr. Uba's office, the DPP and police started giving their attention to Citibank with an eye to taking the bank to count and to arresting its top officials. Charges were filed and arrest warrents were issued. Citibank suddenly had turned from civil action creditor to criminal court defendant. ¶5. (C) A local court issued a bench warrant for Citibank Managing Director (MD) Emeka Emuwa,s arrest after information was presented that Citibank officials refused to heed a court summons. However, Emuwa explained to us he received no notice of such a summons and had seen no explanation of the charges against him. -------------- Citibank Is Dogged By A Dissatisfied Customer -------------- ¶6. (C) On February 13, police officers suddenly appeared at the bank head office, asking for Emuwa. A quick-thinking member of his staff had the presence of mind to divert the officers from Emuwa's office. Emuwa was apprised of the officers' presence. The diversion orchestrated by his staff LAGOS 00000216 002.2 OF 003 gave him time to access a secondary exit and leave the premises. Perturbed at not apprehending Emuwa, the officers arrested three other bank officials, including the bank's in-house attorney, although these officials were not subject to any outstanding warrants. (For days after, Emuwa stayed in seclusion and did not return to the bank.) The police stated they would not release the arrestees unless Mr. Emuwa appeared. Knowing he would be arrested, Emuwa did not appear at the police station. Emerah had arranged for press to be at the police in order to write a story on Emuwa's arrest. Although Emerah did not net the fish he most wanted, negative press stories were published in the local media. -------------- --- Despite High-Level Intervention, Matter Persists -------------- --- ¶7. (C) Upon being contacted by Emuwa, the Consul General placed phone calls to Police Inspector Ehindero (IGP) and to the Assistant Inspector General Okiro, whose mobile phones were conveniently turned off. With this avenue closed, working together with local Citibank officials, we contacted EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu, who promised to look into the case. We also contacted Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister El-Rufai and the Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister, who, in turn, engaged the Foreign Minister. Foreign Minister Joy Ogwu subsequently spoke with Attorney General Bayo Ojo, who was out of the country at the time. Ojo discovered that attorneys within the DPP connived with Emerah to file the unfounded criminal case against Citibank. ¶8. (C) The Foreign Minsiter and FCT Minister brought this issue directly to the President. President Obasanjo ordered the police and DPP to desist from arresting Citibank officials. Upon further looking into the case, the President ordered Chief Emerah's arrest, which was done. During this period, Dr. Uba disavowed any involvement and stated he was unaware that anyone from his office had helped instigate the criminal case. Believing the case had been settled, the President then diverted his attention to other matters, such as the impending election. With the President's attention elsewhere, the case was resurrected. ¶9. (C) During the last week of February, the Inspector General of Police summoned both Citibank officials and Emerah to produce all documentation supporting their claims. It appeared the IGP was still attempting to help Emerah. During their meeting, the IGP recommended to Citibank that they should "settle with Emerah". Citibank MD Emuwa coincidentally is also from Anambra State and is younger than Emerah. DPP officials, police and others have pressed Emuwa that he was not giving proper social deference to Chief Emerah. Emuwa's retort has been that social status does not obliterate a debt legally contracted and that Emerah, as the judgment debtor, should be seeking to settle with Citibank, not the obverse. Apparently still assisting Emerah, the DPP filed new criminal charges against Citibank. Emuwa stated the new charges were so sloppily crafted that the DPP inaccurately accused him of engaging in fraud although he never had any personal involvement in the loan transactions and was not in Nigeria at the time. The DPP knows he was not involved in the matter yet charged him nonetheless. Emuwa questioned how they could charge him with criminal liability for something he did not do. He is now considering suing the DPP attorneys for malicious prosecution. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Despite widely-touted economic reforms aimed at creating a better business operating environment, the country's highly personalized legal system can make simple business transactions and legal decisions subject to the caprice of well-connected adversaries. Citibank, which is no minor player itself, fell victim to one such player. ¶11. (C) With the elections on the horizon, politicians are LAGOS 00000216 003.2 OF 003 increasingly likely to influence the judicial process to favor the likes of a Chief Emerah who can mobilize votes. In this case, the police and judiciary were, at the least, encouraged, if not pressured, to pursue Citibank. Fortunately, Citibank has its own political connections as well as having justice on its side in this matter. Yet, even presidential intervention has not ended this matter. This could have been a martial blow for a smaller firm that did not have the clout and connections of Citibank. For the time being, business as usual remains an unusual exercise in Nigeria. End comment. BROWNE