What NFIU said about investigating Lawan, Gbajabiamila, CJN’s bank accounts
The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has denied writing to banks, demanding the accounts of leaders of the National Assembly and the Judiciary
Daily Sun had reported that NFIU started investigating the bank accounts of all judges in the country, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; his deputy, Ovie Omo-Agege; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; his deputy, Idris Wase, as well as the principal officers and members of the National Assembly, were also said to be under probe.
In a letter dated September 10, 2019 and signed by NFIU Associate Director, Analysis and Compliance, Fehintola Salisu, the Chief Compliance Officers of banks were to furnish it with account names, numbers and transaction details of the top civil servants.
The letter with reference: NFIU/ACCFT/ACCOBANKS/VOL.I/877/PO5IA29 read: “Request for information on: All accounts of: the National Assembly, National Judicial Council (NJC), all the members of the National Assembly, principal officers (management) of the National Assembly Service Commission, (and) of principal officers of the judiciary.
“Kindly provide the NFIU with a schedule (account names and account numbers) of the National Assembly, members of the National Assembly and principal officers of the National Assembly Service Commission, as well as all accounts of National Judicial Service Commission and their principal officers including judges and other relevant politically exposed persons.”
The NFIU further directed the banks to forward the information on or before Friday, September 13, 2019.
However, in a statement, the agency’s Chief Media Analysts, Ahmed Dikko, insisted the NFIU does not need to write banks to get details of accounts. Although he did not categorically state the letter was fake.
Dikko said the NFIU already has access to the account details of all the principal officers of the National Assembly and the Judiciary.
“The attention of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), has been drawn to media reports stating that the unit has requested banks to furnish it with the account details of principal officers of the National Assembly and the Judiciary. Such reports are not true.
“In line with its powers as provided in the NFIU Act 2018, the Unit already has access to details of all bank accounts in the country and does not therefore, need to write to commercial banks asking for the same information.
“As a matter of fact, relevant reporting entities such as investigative and other Law Enforcement Agencies always rely on the NFIU for information on bank details of individuals and body corporate under investigation as they go about carrying out their functions. Such is a mandatory reporting process,” the statement read in part.
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