Sequel to A Federal High Court ruling on Thursday ordering seven Nigerian 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, Fidelity, Skye and Sterling banks has cleared the air in an official statement, saying they were not involved in such deal.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that a vacation judge, Justice Chuka Obiozor, made the interim order 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.
However, in a statement, Charles Aigbe, Divisional Head of Brand and Communications, said Fidelity Bank had no role.
The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to media reports stating that Fidelity Bank illegally concealed $24.5m in contravention of the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, citing court papers filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation at the Federal High Court in Lagos today (yesterday).
“Please note that at the commencement of the TSA policy all TSA related accounts held by the bank were fully disclosed to the authorities.
“We do not have any TSA related account with a balance of $24.5m in Fidelity Bank which has not been remitted to the authorities.
“This matter is coming to us as a surprise. We are therefore reaching out to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to ascertain which account or parastatal they are referring to with a view to carrying out a detailed reconciliation.”
Accordingly Skye bank in a mail sent to TheNewsGuru.com by its Head, Strategic Brand Management and CommunicationSkye Bank’s, Nduneche Ezurike clarified that the said funds are held with the full knowledge of the relevant Agencies of the government including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the DSS, the National Assembly and the Inspector General of Polices’s Special Investigation Panel, with whom we have engaged extensively over same.
“The management of Skye Bank hereby states that it neither colluded nor unilaterally hid the reported sum or any other funds in its custody. ”
“We wish to inform our numerous stakeholders that Skye Bank is a law abiding institution and will, therefore, not conduct itself in breach of the laws or policies of the government, including the TSA policy.” The stament reads.
In a similar vein, Sterling Bank’s Chief Marketing Officer Brands and Communication Group Henry Bassey, said there is “no hidden NAPIMS and NPDC funds in Sterling Bank”
The statement added: Our attention has been drawn to reports of an order by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Thursday 20th July 2017mandating Sterling Bank Plc to remit the sum of US$46.5m (Forty Six, Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only) to a designated Federal Government Asset Recovery Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“The sum in question supposedly represents undisclosed qualifying funds under the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy illegally kept by the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
“We wish to state unequivocally that Sterling Bank does not hold any sum in any currency as a deposit from either of these entities.
“We have therefore written formally to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) demanding a clarification of this claim and a correction in the interest of the general public.“