SEC DG, Oteh fights back, says Reps demand N39 million bribe from her

The embattled Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Arunna Oteh fought back over accusations of reckless expenditure of public funds by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market alleging that the federal lawmakers were out to smear her reputation because she refused to give a N39 million bribe they  demanded from her.

She pointedly accused Committee Chairman, Hon Herman Hembe of demanding bribe from SEC, saying that the committee had demanded the N39 million from SEC to fund the hearing.

“In asking the SEC to contribute N39m for this public hearing, don’t you think that you are undermining your capacity to carry out your duties?” She asked the chairman.

She also alleged that 24 hours before the hearing started on Wednesday, Hembe had personally demanded N5m ransom from her.

“You also requested that we should provide at least N5m, which was a day before this public hearing started. I have raised issues regarding the credibility of the chairman, but that has not been addressed. I will like to say to the Nigerian people that I do not think that I am given a fair hearing”, she said.

Oteh said she decided to turn down both requests because she felt that they were not appropriate.

Her words: “I was told upon my appointment that whenever you try to fight corruption, corruption will fight you back. What I did not know was that this would come from the House committee.”

The Hembe led Committee had on Wednesday accused Oteh of profligacy and incompetence in the management of the nation’s capital market.

According to Hembe, investigations by the committee indicated that Oteh had spent N30m on hotel accommodation in eight months, following her appointment in January 2010.

In one day, she reportedly spent N850, 000 on food, while on another day, she spent N85,000 among other accusations leveled against her.

However, the hearing took a dramatic turn when the DG questioned Hembe’s integrity.

She alleged that in October last year, Hembe had collected money and a first class ticket from SEC on the excuse of travelling to the Dominican Republic to attend a conference on capital market.

She accused Hembe of neither making the trip nor returning the money. She did not disclose the amount.

“Can you tell Nigerians that you returned the money when you did not travel?

“Would I now say that because SEC was approached to fund this hearing, that the committee has no competence to do its job, the same way that you questioned my competence as DG?” Oteh asked the chairman.

The DG also recalled her long-drawn battle with the former DG of the Nigerian  Stock Exchange, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike.

She told the panel that the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, is a nephew to Okereke-Onyuike, adding that Ihedioha’s wife worked with the Abuja office of the NSE.

“This sitting has become a Kangaroo court. Not even in Idi Amin’s Uganda did we have this type of hearing,” she fumed.

The entire session was tensed with Oteh and members of the committee exchanging words again and again. A member of the panel, Mr. Razak Bello-Osagie, tried to douse tension when she reminded her that the hearing was not about personality clashes.

However, reacting to the allegations, Hembe said they were “deliberately made to derail the objective of this hearing.”

March 17, 2012