NFIU denies asking banks for account of NASS principal, judiciary officers

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has distanced
itself from reports that it has written to banks asking them to
make available the “account details of principal officers of the
National Assembly and the Judiciary.”

The unit had allegedly written a letter dated September 10,
2019, to all banks in the country to send it the account details of
the affected persons.

The letter was said to have been signed by the NFIU’s Associate
Director, Analysis and Compliance, Fehintola Salisu, giving the
banks up till September 13 (Friday) to comply with the
directive.

The letter addressed to all Chief Compliance Officers of the
banks was tagged “Request for information on all accounts of: 1.
the National Assembly. 2. All accounts of all the members of the
National Judicial Council. 3. All accounts of all the members of
the National Assembly. 4. Accounts of principal officers
(Management) of National Assembly Service Commission. 5. All
accounts of principal officers of the judiciary.”

The letter futher

read: “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.”

But according to a statement on Friday by its Chief Media
Analysts, Ahmed Dikko, the unit said: “Such reports are not
true.”

He explained that the organisation had already been statutorily
empowered to access all bank accounts, adding that, “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.”

The NFIU statement also read: “The attention of the Nigerian
Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), has been drawn to media reports
stating that the unit had 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 unit does not also make blanket requests to all banks as is
being speculated in the reports

“The media and indeed the public are therefore, requested to
disregard such reports.”

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