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The House of Representatives has recommended that 16 commercial banks be penalised for not remitting N1.6 billion stamp duties into the federation account.
The House made the recommendation on Thursday when it adopted a report on non-remittance of trillions of naira of stamp duties by financial institutions into the federation account.
            The report was presented at the Committee of the Whole by Rep. Abubakar Ahmad (APC- Adamawa) on Thursday in Abuja. The report was by an ad hoc committee of the house saddled with the responsibility of carrying out the investigation. The report recommended that the financial institutions be penalised and be made to pay, with interests, the amounts under remitted for the period under review. According to the report, the banks indicted and the amount under remitted are – Guarantee Trust Bank: N198,326,300, Standard Chartered Bank: N3,658,193, Citi Bank: N1,860,850 and Standard IBTC: N231,094,565
other banks are Zenith Bank: N265,635,650, Providus Bank: N646,650, Fidelity Bank: N32,888,400, Keystone Bank: N24,471,050 and UBA: N81,087,149, ECO Bank: N78,527,004, Diamond Bank (Now Access Bank): N545,873,950, Unity Bank: N40,099,100 and Jaiz Bank: N2,436,150, Access Bank: N66,092,350, Skye Bank: N11,057,700 and Polaris Bank: N2,907,550,” the report said. It stated that all banks that were found not to have made full disclosure on stamp duty collections and remittances should be further investigated.
            According to report, financial institutions especially the Debt Management Bureau should remit all collections with respect to government revenue promptly and correctly, and where remittances are not promptly done, the DMBs should be sanctioned. The committee conducted a public hearing on May 15, 2019 in the course of its investigation where all relevant stakeholders were invited. The committee recommended that First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank, Wema Bank and Suntrust Bank that did not appear at the public hearing be further investigated. The report will now be sent to the President for implementation.

(NAN)