The Presidency and the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of All Stamp Duties are yet to come to terms on the N89.09 trillion revenue from stamp duties allegedly trapped in the banking sector.
While the Presidency described as wild allegations of misappropriation or embezzlement of Stamp Duties funds and coverups by officials of the administration, the secretary of the Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of All Stamp Duties Hon. Gudaji Kazaure chronicled how the panel uncovered the funds.
Kazaure, who also a member of the House of Representatives, spoke on the matter last Friday
He had alleged a connivance by some critical operatives of the administration, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and the Protocol Department of the State House, to prevent him from briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on findings so far made.
In an interview, conducted in Hausa language on Friday, the lawmaker said he was blocked from meeting President Buhari in order to brief him on progress reports on efforts to trace trapped N89.09trn.
However, in a response to the allegations made by Kazaure, the senior special assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, late Saturday evening, said it was ludicrous that a member of the Parliament would claim to be Secretary of of an Executive Committee, adding that such mix would be unconstitutional.
He pointed out that President Buhari had since dissolved the Committee Kazaure was claiming to be Secretary to, but noted that there is another committee, chaired by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, set up in June 2020 by the President, which is still executing the task of reconciling Stamp Duties accounts.
“In the first instance, the committee on the alleged loss of stamp duty funds he is talking about is an illegal committee, it was dissolved on directive of the President.
“Anyone familiar with our constitution will find it curious that a member of the Parliament is the secretary of an Executive Committee. It suffices to say that the entire networth of the nation’s financial sector, the assets of the banking sector put together, is not worth N50 trillion, not to talk of the kind of money he is talking about.
“The Central Bank assures that there is absolutely no problem, whatsoever, with money from Stamp Duties.
“There is a committee duly set up by the President in June 2020, chaired by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Secretary is the Chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS) that is currently reconciling the stamp duty accounts. The job is not finished.
“As it is, there is nothing to give credence to wild accusations made against the administration.
“Following speculation and the many allegations, earlier investigations were commissioned by government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Finance, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Service, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation and nothing sensational has been discovered by them.
“Issues of reconciliation are being handled,” Shehu explained.
On the allegation that Kazaure had been prevented from meeting with the President in his efforts to expose his findings to him, Shehu said there could be no truth in that as the legislator is known to be a friend of the President, with an unfettered access whenever he desires to see him.
“As for Hon. Gudaji seeing the President, I’ll like to assure you that there is nobody that can stop him from seeing the number one citizen. Hon. Gudaji is a friend of the President. He sees him as many times as he wants and he is welcomed to come and see him again and again,” he said.
Kazaure had said some forces were frustrating its investigation into the matter.
The committee was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to recover Stamp Duties due to the federal government from 2013 to 2020.
He said the committee was formed when he approached the president on a research conducted by the School of Banking Honours on Stamp Duties in 2013.
He said, “School of Banking Honours research identified that the Stamp Duty can be in the National Development Goals which later the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approved them.
“The Office of the Attorney-General approved the School of Banking Honours as substantive research on Stamp Duty. The researcher on Stamp duty which made them the Copyright holders on Stamp Duty.
“He later intended to become an agent to the federal government. But that time, he didn’t get it. But NIPOST invited him and they did a master service agreement with NIPOST and they promised to give him 20 percent of what they earn when he starts the recoveries of Stamp Duties”.
Kazaure however stated that the percentage was later re-negotiated to 7.5 percent after the formation of the committee in September 2022.
The lawmaker added, “Fortunately, this School of Banking Honours brought to us a memo he wrote to the minister claiming, there is N89.1 trillion in the I&E Window account which he said, that charges going to the private accounts is the money which was almost $170 billion as by then which was published by some media.
“Because the CBN already published this in the media where they said, they mentioned the money into the federal government account. So, the money is here on paper where they mentioned the amount.”
“So, this invoice, the School of Banking Honours raised N89.1 trillion, he asked the minister of finance to direct the CBN to transfer that money from private investors accounts into the federal government’s account. This thing started bringing problems. That was where the problem started.”
Kazaure however disclosed that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) wrote a letter to the committee to stop it’s activities while the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) wrote another letter claiming it is the only body recognised by law to deal with revenues, taxes and levies issues.
The lawmaker added that they informed the President in their 30 days report, about $171 billion found in the CBN’s private investors accounts, N23.4 trillion and N13 trillion recycled as debt to federal government N13.0 trillion.
According to him, the committee told the president that it has severally directed the SGF, Boss Mustapha, to forward a full report of what an inter-ministerial committee on Stamp Duty achieved since he inaugurated it in 2020.
He added, “We asked the SGF to give us an inter-ministerial report on the Committee on Stamp Duty which the president inaugurated in 2020 for reconciliation.
“In 2018, federal government agent reports were submitted to excellency through the SGF and have refused to comply.
“We wrote to the SGF, he refused to comply and we were surprised. This committee is now arranging to meet all banks. All banks, to be hosted in the DSS for completing the worksheet on the volume of their cashless transfers from April 2013 to August 2022. This is what we write to them. They are a diversion with the CBN.”
According to the lawmaker, the committee is now blocked from having access to the president to brief on what has been achieved in the last one month.
He therefore said, Nigerians must be informed about the development since some elements involved want the investigation stopped so that the monies cannot be traced or recovered by the committee.
