House of Reps in session

The House of Representatives has recommended that 16 commercial banks be penalised for not remitting N1.6 billion stamp duties into federation account.

The house made the recommendation on Thursday when it adopted a report on non-remittance of trillions of naira of stamp duties by financial institutions into the federation account.

The report was presented at the Committee of the Whole by Rep. Abubakar Ahmad (APC- Adamawa) on Thursday in Abuja.

The report was by an ad hoc Committee of the house saddled with the responsibility of carrying out the investigation.

The report recommended that the financial institutions be penalised and be made to pay, with interests, the amounts under remitted for the period under review.

According to the report, the banks indicted and the amount under remitted are – Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) N198,326,300, Standard Chartered Bank, N3,658,193, Citi Bank N1,860,850 and Standard IBTC N231,094,565

other banks are Zenith Bank N265,635,650, Providus Bank N646,650, Fidelity Bank N32,888,400, Keystone Bank N24,471,050 and UBA N81,087,149.

“ECO Bank N78,527,004, Diamond Bank (Now Access Bank) N545,873,950, Unity Bank N40,099,100 and Jaiz Bank N2,436,150

“Access Bank N66,092,350, Skye Bank N11,057,700 and Polaris Bank N2,907,550,” the report said.

It stated that all banks that were found not to have made full disclosure on stamp duty collections and remittances should be further investigated.

According to report, financial institutions especially the Debt Management Bureau (DMB) should remit all collections with respect to government revenue promptly and correctly, and where remittances are not promptly done, the DMBs should be sanctioned.

It recommended that a machinery be put in place to allow recovery of under remittances after further reconciliation is carried out with the banks concerned.

The report also recommended that all the banks that have cases of delayed remittances should be penalised.

According to the report, in view of the apparent lack of transparency on the part of most financial institutions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should strengthen its supervisory activity to ensure that banks report and remit all government’s revenue correctly and promptly.

It stated that the CBN should also ensure that directives sent to financial institutions are followed to the later.

The committee conducted a public hearing on May 15, 2019 in the cause of its investigation where all relevant stakeholders were invited.

The committee recommended that First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank, Wema Bank and Suntrust Bank that did not appear at the public hearing be further investigated.

The report will now be sent to the President for implementation.