An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigator told a Lagos court Arik Air owed no debt to Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, challenging a claim central to the airline’s receivership trial.
Bawa Usman Kaltungo, the fourth prosecution witness, said he led the EFCC team that examined a petition concerning the receivership. He described the grounds for appointing a receiver as “fraudulent and faulty” and said the claimed bad debt “does not exist.”
The hearing also addressed who approved the receivership. During cross-examination, former Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) chief Ahmed Kuru’s lawyer, Uyi Giwa-Osagie, submitted AMCON board resolutions. Prosecutors objected, but Judge Mojisola Dada admitted the records. The defense offered them to challenge Kaltungo’s account that Kuru approved the move alone. The resolutions’ admission did not settle the disputed Union Bank debt or Kuru’s role; an earlier Court of Appeal judgment affirmed the legality of AMCON’s appointment of a receiver-manager.
Kuru and four other defendants face a six-count charge. The other defendants are former Arik Air receiver-manager Kamilu Alaba Omokide, the airline’s chief executive Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank and Super Bravo Limited. They pleaded not guilty in January 2025. The EFCC charge alleges that Union Bank made false statements to AMCON about Arik Air’s loans and guarantees, leading to a transfer of 71 billion naira to the agency.
AMCON said in March 2025 that Arik Air owed it 227.64 billion naira as of Dec. 31, 2024. The agency also said loans banks transferred to it were non-performing and that it took control of the airline in February 2017, citing debt above 300 billion naira at the time. AMCON’s total claim against Arik Air is separate from the specific Union Bank debt Kaltungo disputed in court.
The trial is scheduled to continue Oct. 27 in Lagos.
