Breaking News

A British banker appeared in court in London on Monday charged with accepting kickbacks in return for “overlooking” suspicious activity by a wealthy customer of the U.K. affiliate of First Bank of Nigeria.

Adetunji Fadahunsi-Jones, 45, of Hertfordshire, England, the Nigerian lender’s former director of corporate banking, led the bank’s relationship with a “prominent businessman” active in the Nigerian oil industry who is under investigation by the U.K. National Crime Agency.

Investigators believe that from 2011 and 2014, Fadahunsi-Jones accepted an automobile and an unspecified amount of money in return for turning a blind eye to the financial activity of the Nigerian oil tycoon, the agency said in a statement Monday, without naming the suspect. The 45-year-old was bailed to return to court on Jan. 25.