House of Reps could summon Malami on remittance guidelines he gave to bank in breach of government policy

NIGERIA'S justice minister and attorney-general Abubakar Malami could soon be summoned before the House of Representatives over his role in ordering a commercial bank to convert petro dollars into naira before remittance in breach of government policy.

Apparently, Mr Malami instructed Keystone Bank to remit part of the $136m in its custody in naira while also determining the exchange rate. Testifying before the National Assembly yesterday, Lawal Ahmed, Keystone Bank's executive director, told the lawmakers that the bank had remitted all the funds belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in its possession and did so in naira on Mr Malami's instructions.

He gave his testimony under oath before the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee on Assessment and Status of All Recovered Loots Movable and Immovable Assets from 2002 to 2020 by Agencies of the Federal Government of Nigeria for Effective Efficient Management and Utilisation. Lawmakers are now considering inviting Mr Malami to find out if indeed this is true and to hear his version on the story.

Mr Ahmed said: “Our position, as confirmed by the chief financial officer of the NNPC, was that we have remitted all the funds that were with us at our last meeting. You asked for clarification regarding some reversals from the statements of account, which we reviewed and confirmed that they were actually failed transactions.

“You asked for where we got the rates and we provided the letter from the attorney-general of the federation directing us to make the payment and the rate with which to transfer. We also submitted that with our letter.”

Committee chairman, Hon Adejoro Adeogun, asked how much Keystone was supposed to return to the NNPC and was told that the total figure established by Mr Malami was $136,676,600.51. Giving a breakdown of the figure, Mr Ahmed said $96m was paid in US dollars and the equivalent of $40m was paid in naira, as directed by Mr Malami at the rate of N305 to a dollar.

However, Hon Adeogun noted that the $136m was supposed to be for Brass LNG Investment Account but was paid into a different account. He then presented a letter the committee obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the transactions to the Keystone Bank representative, saying the figures did not tally.

After reading the document, Mr Ahmed argued that there were no discrepancies in the exchange rates as recorded in the CBN and Keystone’s documents. No date has yet been agreed no when Mr Malami will be summoned.