Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday, July 20, granted an interim order sought by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation for the remittance of $793.2 million belonging to the Federal Government allegedly hidden by seven banks.
The money generated by ministries, departments, parastatals and agencies of government through revenues, donations, refunds, taxes, fees, tariffs and transfers were not remitted to the the Federal Government’s Asset Recovery dollars account with Central Bank of Nigeria.
The judge ordered that the $793.2 million should be remitted or interested parties should show cause why the order should not be permanent on August 8.
The banks listed by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation represented by Prof. Yemi Akinsanya-George are:
1. Diamond Bank – $277.9 million
2. Fidelity Bank – $24.5 million
3. First Bank – $18.9 million
4. Keystone Bank – $17 million
5. Skye Bank – $41 million
6. Sterling Bank – $46.5 million
7. UBA – $367.4 million
Not remitting the $793.2 million (about N250 billion) to the Treasury Single Account is a breach of the guidelines by the Accountant General of the Federation with a deadline of September 15, 2015.
The counsel to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation argued that the money is needed to fund the 2017 budget.