The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has denied media report that it wrote to banks demanding the bank accounts and details of principal leaders of the National Assembly, the Judiciary and others.
The Organization said on Sunday in a statement that the document, which circulated on Friday, claiming that it requested banks for the information on the accounts of the President of the Senate Ahmed Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and other principal officers of the National Assembly, did not come NFIU.
The purported reports also said the accounts owned by judges including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad was included.
The letter with reference: NFIU/ACCFT/ACCOBANKS/VOL.I/
“Kindly provide the NFIU with a schedule (account names and account numbers) of the National Assembly, members of National Assembly and principal officers of 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.
“Kindly note that your response is expected on or before September 13, 2019,” the letter reads.
The agency’s Chief Media Analysts, Ahmed Dikko, in the statement said it already has the bank details of the all the principal officers of the National Assembly and judiciary and does not need to request bank’s to provide such information.
“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 said.
A source noted that the NFIU will soon begin investigation into the activities of some principal officers and government agencies within the power granted it by the law.
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