House of Reps Threaten To Arrest Bank CEOs Over Tax Remittance

The House of Representatives on Monday threatened to issue a warrant for the arrest of 10 Nigerian bank chief executive officers, who failed to honor an invitation to attend its investigative hearing in Abuja.

The House Committee on Finance, which issued the threat, gave the CEOs till Wednesday (today) to appear before it or risk being arrested.

The affected banks’ CEOs include those of First City Monument Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Limited, Heritage Bank Limited and Zenith Bank Plc.

Also on the list are the CEOs of Ecobank Plc, Citi Bank; Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Enterprise Bank Limited.

The committee, which is chaired by Mr. Abdulmumini Jibrin, is investigating tax remittances by banks in the country. Besides paying taxes to government as business concerns, some of the banks also collect taxes on behalf of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Last Monday, the FIRS had informed the committee that banks remitted N77bn in taxes between 2006 and 2012. The acting Chairman of the agency, Mr. Kabir Mashi, who appeared before the committee, said N83bn was the total sum expected from the banks, but only N77bn was remitted.

Mashi, who also said that FIRS audited 23 banks within the period, told the committee that the N83bn target was not met because some banks delayed in remitting funds they collected on behalf of the agency.

Following the development, the committee invited the CEOs of 21 banks that collected tax revenue on behalf of FIRS to ascertain whether they remitted what they collected to government coffers or not. But 10 of the CEOs shunned the invitation on Monday.

Jibrin said, “The CEOs of these 10 banks, out of the 21 we invited, did not appear. This is a serious national assignment because we are looking at how to plug the leakages in our revenue collection system.

“The CEOs should appear unfailingly on Wednesday or we shall not hesitate to issue a bench warrant for their arrest.” He added that the investigation was restricted to tax collection and remittances by the banks and not their entire operation.

Jibrin added, “All over the world, banks are under tight scrutiny by the parliament because of their strategic role in the economy, and of course, tax matters are treated with utmost importance.

“As we beam our searchlight on tax remittances by banks, the heavens will not fall.”

Forms were distributed to the representatives of 11 other banks that appeared at the hearing. They were required to fill in the taxes their financial institutions paid as business concerns and those they collected as agents of the FIRS so as to assist the committee with the investigation.

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