NNAEMEKA MERIBE

Also, the commission has lamented that the absence from the country of former state governors, Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju (Anambra) and Alhaji Abubakar Audu (Kogi) is frustrating investigations into allegations of corruption running into billions of naira levelled against them.

ICPC put the totality of fraud committed in the banking sector since 2002 at N33.546 billion even as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it has moved to acquire legal backing to dispose of seized property of detained persons under investigation.

Both ICPC and EFCC made these pronouncements on Saturday at a retreat organised by Project Edge, a firm, for joint managers under the theme: "Antic - corruption Reforms; Imperative Code of Operational Due Diligence for Bank Managers," at Ikeja, Lagos.

Head of the Lagos zone of ICPC, Mr Akeem Lawal, said the five past council bosses being prosecuted include two from Ebonyi State, one from Rivers one from Lagos, and one from Ogun State even as the trial of an unidentified former local government chief from the same Ikorodu is to commence this week.

Mr. Lawal also noted that the absence of ex-governors Mbadinuju and Audu has posed a cog in the wheel of efforts to charge them for alleged corrupt enrichment.

Besides, the ICPC Chief said, the commission has found the immunity clause in the constitution an impediment to the task of bringing adjudged corrupt high political office holders to justice.

According to Lawal, the constitution only empowers the ICPC to, upon receipt of allegation of graft against such officials, merely authorise an independent counsel to investigate and report his findings to the National Assembly, in the case of the President or Vice President.

Findings on allegations pertaining to state governors or their deputies, he said, are passed on to Houses of Assembly.

Chairman of ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akambi (rtd), in a paper on "Anti-Corruption Reform Initiatives in the Banking Sector: The ICPC Perspective," presented on his behalf by Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, head of education unit of the commission, however, urged bankers, as an imperative, to inculcate high ethnical standards in their operations.

Corporate governance in banks, he said, will be incomplete without mainstreaming issues of ethnics, integrity, transparency and accountability especially "as bankers are entrusted with other people’s hard-earned money."

He regretted that the banking sector, in the last three years, has had incidences of fraud "involving a whopping sum of N33.546 billion through the active connivance of some supervisors and managers."

Director-General of EFCC, Alhaji Nulu Ribadu, whose paper was presented by Mr Emmanuel Akomaye, disclosed that the commission has no right to dispose of seized property of those under investigation, but noted that it was already taking steps to be granted such powers.

He said that when granted such powers, the commission would lodge proceeds from such property into a special account, adding that the proceeds would be released to the Federal Government if the owners are convicted, but if discharged, such would be released to them.

The commission, he noted, acknowledges the possible depreciation, in value, of such property overtime, hence it is taking such steps.

In his paper titled "Banks and Other Financial Institutions in the New Reforms Initiatives of Government," Executive Director, Operations, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Prof. Peter Umoh noted that the proposed reforms for the financial sector were timely, given that the alternative would have been the massive liquidation activities as witnessed in 1988.

He maintained that industries may be able to stave off liquidations if the reforms, particularly in respect of mergers and corporate good governance, are faithfully implemented.

Speaking on "Anti-Corruption Reforms: Imperatives, New Code of Ethnical Due Diligence in Dealing with Politically Exposed Customers," the immediate past president, Chastered Institute of Bankers (CIBN), Mr O.C.K. Unegbu, represented by Mr Emeka Okoh, listed politically exposed customers as government officials and other individuals in positions of authority as well as their family members.

He noted that dealing with such people required enhanced customer due diligence of account opening and on-going transactions review.

Unegbu urged bankers to conduct risk assessment on them and ensure that controls are proportionate to the customer’s risk level.

Earlier, in his remarks, the national coordinator, Project Edge, Mr Ike Onyechere, had noted that since banks are repositories of money, and bank managers the gate keepers, they are natural attractions to fraudsters and criminals.

He added that the "fact that every Nigerian is now regarded as guilty in the matter of corruption puts bankers particularly on the spot."

For him, the safest thing for any banker therefore is to keep their mistakes at minimal levels saying this means that the banker must be knowledgeable, current and must acquaint themselves with the new rules, regulations and laws.