A Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday
ordered seven banks to remit to the Federal
Government $793,200,000 (about
N249,659,700,000.00) allegedly hidden with
them in breach of the Treasury Single
Account (TSA) policy.
According to The Nation, the interim order
was given by a vacation judge, Justice Chuka
Obiozor following an ex parte application by
the office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation (AGF).
The judge warned that the remittance order
would be made permanent on August 8,
unless cause was shown why it should not.
The AGF, through his counsel, Prof. Yemi
Akinseye-George (SAN), accused the
commercial banks of illegally keeping the
sums in their custody for “unknown
government officials”.
Justice Obiozor ordered the banks to remit
the money to the designated Federal
Government’s Asset Recovery dollars
account domiciled with the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN).
The banks are United Bank for Africa (UBA),
Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, First Bank
Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank
Limited and Sterling Bank Plc.
According to court processes filed by
Akinseye-George (SAN), $367.4m was hidden
by three government agencies in UBA; $41m
was kept in a National Petroleum Investment
Management Services (NAPIMS) fixed deposit
account with Skye Bank.
The documents stated that $277.9m was in
Diamond Bank, $18.9m in First Bank, $24.5m
in Fidelity Bank, $17m in Keystone Bank, and
$46.5m in Sterling Bank.
The AGF’s application was supported by a
15-paragraph affidavit deposed to by a
lawyer from Akinseye-George’s law firm,
Vincent Adodo. Adodo averred that the
banks colluded with Federal Government
officials to hide the funds in breach of the
TSA policy.
The funds, he stated, were revenues,
donations, transfers, refunds, grants, taxes,
fees, dues, tariffs etc accruable to the
Federal Government from ministries,
departments, parastatals and agencies.
Adodo said the banks failed to remit the
funds to the TSA domiciled in the CBN in
violation of the guidelines issued by the
Accountant-General of the Federation, which
fixed September 15, 2015 as the deadline
for such funds to be moved.
“The 1st to 7th respondents (banks), in
collaboration with and/or collusion with
unknown officials of the Federal
Government, conspired to disobey the
relevant constitutional provisions, thereby
depriving the Government of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria of funds belonging to it,
which are needed urgently to fund pressing
national projects under the 2017 budget,”
Adodo said.
Among the allegedly culpable government
agencies is the National Petroleum
Developing Company (NPDC). Moving the ex
parte application yesterday, Akinseye-
George said it would best serve the interest
of justice for Justice Obiozor to order the
banks to remit the funds to the Federal
Government, to prevent the funds from
being moved or dissipated.
“The withheld funds are urgently required
for the implementation of the 2017 budget.
The budget has a lifespan of 12 months and
we are already in the middle of the year.
“By hiding these hidden funds, the Federal
Government is being forced to borrow
money from these commercial banks at
exorbitant interest rates,” Akinseye-George
added.
After listening to the SAN, Justice Obiozor
granted the interim orders. He directed that
the order should be published in a national
daily newspaper.
The judge adjourned till August 8 “for
anyone interested in the funds to appear”
before him “to show cause why the interim
orders should not be made permanent”.
