TheCable

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the presidency and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) knew the money kept in banks other than the treasury single account (TSA).

In a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, spokesman of the corporation, NNPC said the allegation that the money was hidden is “misplaced and misleading”.

“The corporation had earlier taken steps to inform the presidency, office of the accountant general of the federation, (AGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) on the existence of the said accounts prior to the creation of the federal government asset recovery account,” the statement read.

Ughamadu said it would be totally out of place to move the funds to the federal government asset recovery account, adding that it would be a “sheer waste of funds”.

NNPC said the amount involved is $231.8 million, and not $793.2 million.

Giving the breakdown, NNPC said $174.4m was kept in Diamond Bank, $40.7m in Skye Bank and $16.7m in Keystone Bank.

According to the statement, the CBN is supervising the remittance of the funds to the TSA account.

On Thursday, a federal high court in Lagos had ordered the remittance of $793.2m allegedly hidden in seven commercial banks into the TSA.

UBA, Fidelity and Sterling banks have denied having such funds in their possession while Skye Bank admitted holding some funds.