BY Oluseyi Awojulugbe
The federal high court in Lagos has granted an interim order for the remittance of a total of $793,200,000 allegedly hidden by seven commercial banks in violation of the constitution and the treasury single account (TSA) policy of the federal government.
Chuka Obiozor, the presiding justice, ordered the banks to remit the various amounts allegedly kept in their custody to the designated CBN asset recovery dollars account.
The affected banks are Skye Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc.
The interim order was given after the court listened to an ex-parte application filed by Yemi Akinseye-George, professor and counsel to the attorney general of the federation.
Akinseye-George said it was best for the court to order the banks to remit the funds to the federal government to avoid possible diversion, misapplication and misappropriation of the funds.
He said the funds were urgently required by the federal government for executing the 2017 budget.
After granting the interim order, Obiozor directed that the order should be published in a national daily.
In August 2015, the federal government directed all ministeries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to make payments into a treasury single account (TSA).
At that time, the government said the directive will promote transparency.
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