Former AMCON Boss, Ahmed Lawan Kuru, Diverted Arik Air Funds To Settle Umza Airline’s Insurance Debt – Witness

<h4>&NewLine;Former AMCON Boss<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that a Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja&comma; Lagos&comma; today was told that a former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria &lpar;AMCON&rpar;&comma; Ahmed Lawan Kuru&comma; allegedly diverted funds belonging to Arik Air to offset insurance liabilities owed by Umza Airline while serving as Manager Director&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>An Assistant Director with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission &lpar;EFCC&rpar;&comma; Bawal Usman Kaltungo&comma; while being led in evidence by the EFCC prosecutor&comma;Dr&period;Wahab Shittu made the disclosure before the court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ahmed Kuru&comma; alongside other defendants&comma; is standing trial over an alleged fraud involving N76 billion and &dollar;31&period;5 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendants are accused of conspiracy&comma; stealing&comma; abuse of office and making false statements in connection with the alleged fraudulent conversion of assets belonging to the defunct Arik Air Limited&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other defendants in the charge include Kamilu Alaba Omokide&comma; a Receiver Manager of Arik Air&semi; Captain Roy Ilegbodu&comma; Managing Director of Arik Air&semi; Union Bank Plc&semi; and a limited liability company Super Bravo Limited&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Testifying before Justice Mojisola Dada&comma; the witness said investigations revealed that Arik Air’s funds were diverted to settle insurance obligations of Umza Airline&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In the course of investigation&comma; we discovered that Arik Air’s money was used to pay the insurance of Umza Airline&period; We invited Umza Airline&comma; which confirmed the development&period; We also found that Umza Aviation Services had commenced repayment&comma; but had not concluded it as at the time of investigation&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kaltungo further told the court that investigators discovered that AMCON opened several accounts for Arik Air and assigned an account officer to manage the airline’s loan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We invited the account officer&comma; who provided the statement of the loan account signed by him and one Justin Akune&period; The statement was submitted to the Commission with a covering letter&period; The aim was to determine whether the Receiver Manager was performing the role for which he was appointed&comma; but we discovered he was not&comma;” the witness stated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also told the court that during the investigation&comma; the first defendant&comma; Omokide&comma; petitioned the Attorney-General&comma; alleging <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">harassment<&sol;a> and seeking a halt to the probe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to him&comma; the petition&comma; which contained 39 attachments&comma; was accompanied by a legal opinion written by the Attorney-General and signed by the Solicitor-General&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;My head of the investigative team received copies of the petition&period; It was essentially requesting that the investigation be stopped&comma;” he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Counsel to the defence indicated that they would reserve their objections until the address stage&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Justice Dada subsequently adjourned further hearing in the matter till tomorrow February 26&comma;2026&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;