House of Representatives has given commercial banks operating in Nigeria four days to submit all relevant documents relating to taxes and multiple charges imposed on customers’ accounts, including those of civil and public servants.
Chairman of the ad-hoc committee investigating the deductions, Mr. Kelechi Nwogu, issued the directive at the opening of the panel’s sitting in Abuja.
He insisted that the Chief Executive Officers of the financial institutions must appear before the committee, stressing that no bank representative will be allowed to speak without a properly addressed authorization letter to the Chairman.
He said the Ad-hoc Committee had also invited the Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation OAGF, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC and all commercial banks to find out how all deductions of charges by banks were utilised.
“It will not be well if we invite you here again and you tell us the same story. We have given a deadline that any bank that failed to submit the requested documents on Monday must be sanctioned”.
The Committee Chairman and some members of the panel who rejected the representatives of the Chief Executive Officers CEOs of the Guarantee Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and other commercial banks emphasizing that all their heads must personally honour the panel’s invitation unfailingly.
Some Committee members who spoke during the investigation expressed concern how the commercial banks are perpetrating illegality by deducting inexplicable charges from civil servants, public servants and other customers bank accounts without remittances.
The Committee Chairman further assured that the House panel will not leave any stone unturned in unraveling why the commercial banks engage in spurious deduction of charges on their customers account without any justification and appealed for support to enable the committee succeed.
COV/TSIBIRI
