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Chinwendu Obienyi
The theme around the suspended Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, appears not to have ended yet, as recent reports revealed that the former capital market regulator awarded over N33million contracts to a company where he was alleged to be a director.
According to a report obtained from the Administrative Panel of Inquiry into allegations of violations of public service Rules, Financial Regulations and other Extant Rules and Regulations set up by the Minster of Finance, documents obtained by the panel at the Corporate Affairs Commission, revealed that Gwarzo was still a director of the company as well as a major shareholder with a shareholding of N1.2million as at the time of the search.
“His purported letter of resignation dated December 19, 2012 was not part of CAC’s records as at the date of the inquiry. It was equally discovered from the account opening mandate obtained from GTBank, Gwarzo was at the date of the inquiry signatory to account No 322324264/1/110 maintained by the company with the bank.
The panel was also furnished with a letter dated July 24, 2015, addressed to the bank signed by Gwarzo as director of the company requesting for a change of Account Officer on the basis of a resolution passed and signed by the directors of the company to that effect.
The report further indicated that investigators also discovered a letter dated August 16, 2016, signed by Gwarzo as a director of the company requesting for the issuance of a credit card in relation to the said account.
“When Gwarzo was confronted with the above letters, he admitted to have authored and signed them, but claimed that it was a regrettable action” the report stated .
On Outbound Investments Limited, which benefitted in contacts awarded by SEC to the tune of N33,736,596, in which Gwarzo is also director and shareholder, he claimed the company belongs to his wife’s family and that he was only representing his wife on the Board.
Based on these revelations, the panel opined that Gwarzo’s status as director in both Medusa Investment Limited and Outbound Investment Limited while in office as Director General of SEC has raised and established a fundamental issue of conflict of interest against him.
Specifically, the PSR 030424 expressly stated that public officers are not prohibited from holding shares in both public and private companies operating in Nigeria or abroad except that they must not be directors in public companies and may only be directors in public companies if nominated by government.
Earlier, Justice Baba Yusuf of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court discharged and acquitted Gwarzo on grounds that the No Case Submission of the defendants on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove the elements of the offence in that the Board of SEC was the highest authority in SEC and had by resolution approved the severance benefit and the car grant.
