Reps seek suspension of Ecobank from customs’ duties collection over N4.3bn

The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise has recommended the suspension Ecobank from further collection of customs’ duties, over infraction in the collection of the duties.

Rep Leke Abejide said this at the resumed investigative hearing of the committee on some banks’ refusal to remit customs duties to the Federal Government’s coffers.

He said that the bank would be suspended until it was able to pay the outstanding of N4.3 billion customs’ duties the bank refused to pay to the Federal Government.

Abejide said that the committee had been on the assignment for over a year, stressing that any banks that failed to show the amount collected for customs duties would also be suspended.

He noted that banks like Diamond, Access, Intercontinental, GTB, City Bank and Wema Bank had submitted full data for their forensic review, while data from First Bank, Union Bank, Stanbic IBTC were still undergoing reviews.

The lawmaker said that at the end of the investigation, all banks that refused to remit their collection of customs duties would be suspended from further collection, until all their outstanding amounts were cleared.

Reacting to the development, M.r Oche Adejoh, the Regional Compliant Manager, Ecobank, said that as at today, the bank had completed all its remittances.

He said that Ecobank currently had no remittances to make, adding that this was why the bank employed an independent entity, KPMG, to do the relevant investigation.

Other banks that appeared at the investigative hearing included: Keystone bank, Standard Chartered bank, Fidelity bank, Polaris bank.

Meanwhile, the committee has commended Standard Chartered Bank for demonstrating commitment to pay its outstanding balance to the Federal Government coffers.

The committee stated that it hoped to get the cheque from the bank any moment from now.

Mr. Olukorede Adeniran, the representative of the Managing Director of Standard Chartered Bank, commended the committee, promising to revert accordingly by remitting the outstanding monies.