Asset Declaration: Fear Grips Bankers Over Today’s EFCC Deadline

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*Defaulters to forfeit assets
*EFCC: no sacred cows

It will no longer be business as usual for bank chief executive
officers (CEOs) and their employees who live above their
income.

They have two weeks to declare their assets in compliance with
the Bank Employees, etc (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986. The
application of the law begins today.

They risk a 10-year jail, if found guilty by any Federal High
Court.

Besides declaration of assets by the CEOs, anti-graft agencies
are to trace suspected assets to parents, spouses, children and
associates of bank workers.

After the declaration, the CEOs are to submit all the forms
within seven days to the appropriate authority or the designated
agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Relying on the Declaration of Assets Act 1986, the Chairman of
EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, on March 16, told all bank workers to
prepare for the declaration of their assets by this month.

He made the declaration after a session with President Muhammadu
Buhari.

Bawa also said there was no going back on the application of the
35-year-old law beginning from June 1.

Ahead of compliance with the law, the anti-graft agency claimed
that there had been anxiety in the banking sector.

The penalty for violation of the Act is contained in Section
7(2), which stipulates a 10-year jail term for offenders.

The Act says: “It shall be an offence for an employee of a Bank
to own assets in excess of his legitimate, known and provable
income and assets.

“Any employee guilty of an offence under Sub-section (1) of this
section shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for ten years
and shall, in addition, forfeit the excess assets or its equivalent
in money to the Federal Government.

“For the purpose of imposing a penalty on conviction under this
section, due regard shall be had to the amount or value of assets
by which the assets of the convicted employee are in excess of his
legitimate, known and provable income and assets.”

On verification of assets, the law says the government can
investigate bankers’ parents, spouse, children, associates and
privies.

It says: “The appropriate authority shall cause to be verified
every Declaration of Assets Form and Annual Assets Declaration Form
submitted under this Act and may direct that a thorough
investigation should be conducted into the assets and activities of
the employee concerned including the assets and activities of his
spouse, child, relative, parent, associate or privy.”

The law gives guidelines on how bank workers will disclose their
assets.

The Act further reads: “Employees to make full disclosure of
assets. Every employee of a Bank shall, within fourteen days of the
commencement of this Act, make a full disclosure of all his
assets.

“In the case of a new employee, he shall within fourteen days of
assuming duty with the bank make a full disclosure of all his
assets at the time of his assuming duty; and for the purpose of
this subsection, a transfer or secondment from one bank to another
shall be treated as a new employment.

“The full disclosure of assets required under section 1 of this
Act shall be made in the manner prescribed in the Declaration of
Assets Form contained in Form A of the Schedule to this Act and
shall be executed before and attested to by the Registrar of a High
Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court.

“The President or the appropriate authority may from time to
time prescribe such other forms as may be necessary to achieve the
purpose and intendment of this Act. 3.

“On completion and execution of the Declaration of Assets Form
in the manner prescribed in section 2 (1) of this Act, the employee
shall submit the form to the Chief Executive of his Bank within the
time prescribed in section 1 of this Act.

“The Chief Executive of the Bank to whom Declaration of Assets
forms have been submitted under subsection (1) of this section
shall, within seven days after the expiration of the time
stipulated in Section 1 of this Act, submit the forms to the
appropriate authority together with the list of employees compiled
in the manner prescribed in Form B of the Schedule to this
Act.”

It adds: “The chief executive of every bank shall twice in every
year, but not later than January7, or July7, as the case may be,
submit to the appropriate authority a list of all employees who
joined or left the employment of the bank in the immediately
preceding six months expiring respectively on 31 December of the
previous year and 30 June of that year respectively.

“The list referred to in Sub-section (1) of this Section shall
be in the manner prescribed in the Biannual Returns of Employees
Movements contained in Form D of the Schedule to this Act.”

In the latest edition of its in-house magazine, the EFCC ALERT,
the anti-graft agency confirmed what it described as “trepidation”
in the banking sector over the June 1 deadline.

It said: “But, with the June 1 ‘deadline’ just by the corner,
there is trepidation in the banking sector amid permutations about
the possible scenarios in the coming

The announcement drew mixed reactions, with many questioning the
powers of the EFCC to issue the notice, while others applauded the
move, saying it was long overdue.

“Among those who are yet to tidy their assets record, there is
said to be an air foreboding regarding their fate.

“The fear, though largely unspoken, is about the consequences of
second guessing the resolve of the EFCC chair to apply the full
weight of the law on erring bankers.

“This is premised on the recent history of the banking sector,
where a couple of former chief executives came under EFCC’s radar
in the aftermath of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s whistle on the
indiscretion of some bank chiefs in 2008.

“Two of the former bank executives have been jailed while others
are still in court, battling to extricate their necks from the
intricate web of fraud charges filed against them by the anti-graft
agency.

“What will happen post-June 1 remains a matter of conjecture.
However, one thing is certain; the steely resolve of the EFCC chair
to walk the talk.”

It quoted the EFCC boss as claiming that there is no going back
on the June 1 deadline.

The in-house journal quoted Bawa as saying: “All we are saying
is that come June 1, we are going to be demanding for it (assets
declaration forms).

“We want to look at it vis-à-vis other information that we have.
It is something that as an institution we have resolved to do. Of
course we expect stiff resistance, but we are determined.”