CBN to hammer 16 banks for stamp duty non-remittance

If the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, accepts and fully implements the recommendations of the House of Representatives on the unwholesome pranks being played by banks on stamp duty remittances, then, no less than 16 banks would come under the hammer any moment from now.

The lower chamber of the National Assembly has the apex bank to hammer the defaulting banks for under-remitting stamp duty revenue amounting to a whopping N1.6 billion.

In addition to facing stiff penalties, the affected banks will also pay the outstanding revenue with interests to the treasury.

The House made the landmark decision, Thursday, after adopting the report of its ad-hoc committee which investigated the alleged misdemeanour by the banks.

A collation of media houses, Leaks.ng, had flipped the banks’ can of worms when it reported that the agencies refused to disclose details of the stamp duty revenue whose status has been shrouded in secrecy over the years.

Consequent upon the report, the House set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the matter and report its findings. During the investigation, CBN officials told the committee, headed by Hon. Abubakar Ahmad, that the total stamp duty revenue since January 2016 stands at N35.2 billion.

The committee’s report listed the indicted banks with highest under-remitted stamp duty revenues as Diamond Bank, with N545.87 million; Zenith Bank, with N265.63 million, and Stanbic IBTC, with N231 million.

The other banks indicted include Guaranteed Trust Bank (N196.3 million); Standard Chartered Bank (N3.65 million); Citi Bank (N1.86 million); and Providus Bank (N646,650).

Others are Fidelity Bank (N32.88 million), Keystone Bank (N24.47 million), United Bank of Africa (N81 million), and ECOBANK (N78.52 million).

That is not all. Also indicted are Unity Bank (N40 million), Jaiz Bank (N2.43 million), Access Bank (N66 million), Skye Bank (N11 million), and Polaris Bank (N2.9 million).

Relatedly, the House canvassed further investigation of four banks which the committee said shunned its invitation to appear before it. The banks are: First Bank of Nigeria, First City Monument Bank, Wema Bank and Suntrust Bank.

Apart from penalising the 16 banks, the lawmakers also asked CBN to strengthen its supervisory role over the stamp duty revenue to ensure they are collected promptly.

It also called for a machinery to allow for the recovery of under -remittances “after further reconciliation is carried out with the banks concerned.”

The House made other recommendations, including:

• All banks that were found not to have made full disclosure on stamp duties collections and remittances should be further investigated.
• Financial institutions, especially the deposit money banks (DMBs) should remit all collections with respect to government revenues promptly and correctly, and where remittances are not promptly done, the DMBs should be sanctioned.
• That the relevant agencies should give maximum cooperation to the School of Banking Honours (SBH) to enable it realise the goal of the assignment given to it.
• Other forms of stamp duty should be explored “to increase the revenue base of various tiers of government in accordance with the provisions of the Stamp Duty Act, 2004.