As June 1, the date, which the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa said he would be demanding the asset declaration forms of operators in the Nigerian banking sector expired today, fear grips bankers.
Bawa, while emerging from a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on March 16, 2021, Bawa had declared that, come June 1, he would be demanding the asset declaration forms of bankers.
The anti-graft czar, according to the EFCC Alert magazine said the move was part of measures to enforce the provisions of the Bank Employees, etc. (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986 Section 1 of the Act makes it mandatory for every employee of a Bank to make full disclosure of assets upon employment, and annually in subsequent years.
EFCC stated that the penalty for violation of the Act, as spelt out in section 7(2), includes imprisonment for a term of ten years; “Any employee guilty of an offence under subsection (1) of this Section shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for ten years and shall, in addition, forfeit the excess assets or its equivalent in money to the Federal Government”.
The announcement expectedly drew mixed reactions, with some questioning the powers of the EFCC to issue the notice, while others applauded the move, saying it was long overdue. weeks.
Among those who are yet to tidy their assets record, there is said to be an air foreboding regarding their fate. The fear, though largely unspoken, is about the consequences of second guessing the resolve of the EFCC chair to apply the full weight of the law on erring bankers.
This is premised on the recent history of the banking sector, where a couple of former chief executives came under EFCC’s radar in the aftermath of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s whistle on the indiscretion of some bank Chiefs in 2008.
Two of the former bank executives have been jailed while others are still in court, battling to extricate their necks from the intricate web of fraud charges filed against them by the anti-graft agency.
What will happen post June 1 remains a matter of conjecture. However, one thing is certain; the steely resolve of the EFCC Chair to walk the talk.
“All we are saying is that come June 1, we are going to be demanding for it (assets declaration forms). We want to look at it vis-à-vis other information that we have. It is something that as an institution we have resolved to do. Of course we expect stiff resistance, but we are determined”, Bawa said.
What will Bawa’s EFCC do after today? Will it go all out or perhaps offer errant bankers another window of grace?.
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