Reps Threatens To Arrest Bank CEOs Over Non-remittance of Stamp Duties

The House of Representatives yesterday said it will issue arrest warrant on Chief Executive Officers of banks and other agencies that refuse to appear before it.

An ad-hoc Committee in the green chamber is constituted to investigate non-remittance of stamp duties funds into the federation account since 2010.

The committee is aggrieved with the absence of the CEOs and has refused to accept representatives below the executive management cadre of the organisations.

This is coming just as the Central Bank of Nigeria has confirmed to lawmakers that the federal government has realise N35.2b from stamp duties since 2016.

This, CBN said was got from bank statement showing all the details of the amount collected which has since being submitted to the lawmakers.

Yesterday at a public hearing in Abuja, the green chamber took the decision to issue warrant of arrest on erring CEOs through a unanimous adoption of a motion by Hon.Adekunle Akinlabi (APM-Ogun).

According to Akinlabi, “only three banks sent senior management staff to honour the invitation of the committee.”

He said “the CEOs were present when they wanted to secure the business but have refused to appear for an investigative hearing.”

Lamenting the non-appearance of CEOs, the lawmaker further stated that the investigation is very important and the CEOs who are saddled with the responsibility of collecting taxes should take it with laxity.

Meanwhile,the Chairman of the adhoc Committee, Hon. Abubakar Ahmed (APC-Gombe) explained that the committee was set up on April 25, 2019.

He said that “the Stamp Duty Act gave powers to banks to collect stamp duties and that the 1999 Constitution provided for the federation account and the manner of withdrawal.”

Ahmed said that the house has received reports, alleging irregularities in the collection of stamp duties amounting to trillions of naira and that the collected moneys is not remitted to the federation account.

Also, Hon. Olowale Raji (APC-Lagos) has described the absence of the CEOs as “an act of irresponsibility.”

According to him, “When some of the CEOs receive invitation from parliament, they treat it with levity, this is an insult on the house which we shall not allow.”