Ndidi Okereke-Onyuike, the director-general of the Nigerian Stock Exchange tries to explain the complexity but believes that the crimes should be swept under the carpet.
"This is a very peculiar case that has never happened in our market before. It has never happened in the market because we have firm underwritings and a standby underwriting. This one is definitely a firm underwriting. As the firm underwriting you are supposed to, at the Completion Board Meeting, give the cheque. Now, the banks that underwrote couldn't do that because this is a peculiar one that came in the middle of the global meltdown.
"This is a peculiar situation because there is no credit coming to these banks the way they used to have credits. They couldn't underwrite what they had initially wanted do.
"In this case, everybody is right. The person suffering is the company."
The Stock Exchange boss however believes that the banks cannot be compelled, by anyone, to pay.
"These banks now, as it is now, even if you go to the Supreme Court if they cannot pay, they cannot pay. What are you going to do, you kill them? It is not their fault that there is a global meltdown. This thing happened in the middle of the global meltdown. This is a peculiar case, and it is only one case. Any other one now, when the banks commit, they will know that there is a liquidity crunch and they will only commit to what they can underwrite."
Mrs. Okereke -Onyuike states that the best way to resolve the crimes is for the Securities and Exchange Commission to call the players to reach an arrangement that is beneficial to the concerned parties.
"I believe that SEC can resolve this situation. We don't need to go to any arbitration any more. We don't need to go to IST [the Investment and Securities Tribunal] anymore. The public should know that this is just a one off situation because this particular situation happens just in the middle of the global crises.
"If we go from IST, to high court to appeal court to Supreme Court and it still will not be resolved. Meanwhile the company is suffering because the company will not have the money, and at the end of the day, only lawyers will smile to the bank. Everybody else will lose," she said.