Nigeria Content Online

Anti-corruption
agency on Wednesday charged six former Diamond Bank staff and a
customer with conspiring to defraud the bank by granting N7.8 billion
($50 million) in unsecured loans. The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission said in a statement all of the accused pleaded guilty to the
five-count charges, which relate to offences committed in 2008, at a
court in the southwestern city of Ibadan.

Reckless lending, including
the granting of unsecured loans, led to the near-collapse of several
Nigerian lenders in 2009. The Central Bank was forced to bail out nine
of them, excluding Diamond Bank, with a $4 billion capital injection.
Nigeria is ranked by anti-corruption agencies as one of the most
corrupt countries in the world. But regulators have taken a tougher
line on monitoring the banking system and capital markets in the wake
of the bailout.