Alleged N249.6b ‘hidden’ funds: FG seeks out-of-court settlement with seven banks

The Federal Government has filed a notice of discontinuance of the suit it filed against seven commercial banks seeking the remittance of the sum of N249.6b allegedly hidden with them allegedly hidden with them in breach of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

The notice of discontinuance dated August 7, 2017 was brought pursuant to Order 50 Rule 2 Subsection 1, Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules of 2009.

Counsel to the Federal Government, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George, told Justice Chuka Obiozor that the government was making the move in the public interest, as it had decided to explore an ‘out of court settlement’ with the banks.

Lawyers to the banks have no objections to the notice of discontinuance, but they insisted that the proper application was for the court to dismiss the suit and award cost against the Federal Government.

Obiozor has adjourned the case till Wednesday, August 9, to determine whether or not to strike out the suit.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that a Federal High Court in Lagos, recently granted an ex-parte application by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for an order directing the banks to remit the funds to the Federal Government.

Justice Chuka Obiozor, who gave the order, warned that it would be made permanent on August 8, unless the banks show cause why the order should not be made permanent.

The office of the AGF, through its lawyer, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), accused seven banks of unlawfully withholding $793,200,000 (about N249,659,700,000.00) in breach of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

The banks listed in the court documents filed by the office of the AGF 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.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that Fidelity, Sterling Bank, Skye and UBA have denied having any involvement in the deal.

Court documents stated that $367.4 million was hidden by three government agencies in UBA; $41 million was kept in a National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) fixed deposit account with Skye Bank.

Also, $277.9 million was found in Diamond Bank, $18.9 million in First Bank, $24.5 million in Fidelity Bank, $17million in Keystone Bank and $46.5 million in Sterling Bank.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that following the denial of the banks of any wrong doing, a senior official in the office of the AGF faulted the banks for rushing to the media with their denial.

According to the official, since the court has adjourned to August 8 and given the banks up till then to show cause why the order should not be made permanent, their concern should be how to convince the court that they acted legally.

The official, who wouldn’t want to be named, said: “Don’t mind them. Let them continue to deny. They should file their processes and we will meet them in court. They appear not to know the extent of evidence we have against them.

“There were even some accounts that were dormant, yet millions of U.S. dollars were found in them. Some of the accounts were opened without names.

“How do you keep dollars in accounts and yet fail to ascribe names to them? Is that a standard banking practice? I suspect what they are doing is not regular banking.

“We are waiting for them to file. They can start filing by Monday. This case will be interesting. This case will lead us to a lot of other things. I don’t want to say more than that.

“They should tell us the government officials and agencies that authorised them to breach the government’s TSA policy and why. We are waiting.

“Those agencies and officials will have to explain to the court where they got their powers to disregard the government’s TSA policy and encourage banks to hoard government’s funds in coded accounts.

“The government is determined, this time, to ensure things are done well. We will do all it takes to sanitise the banking sector and free money for the government to fulfil its many promises to the people.”