N1.6b illegal bank charges has been recovered from one of the many branches of one money deposit bank, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun told the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Adeosun, who said the recovery was made possible by the Treasury Single Account (TSA), added that other branches of the unamed bank would go through the same process.
According to her, the fund was illegally taken by banks as excess charges on the accounts they maintained for government agencies in the pre-TSA era.
Speaking during an investigative public hearing into the status of TSA by the Abubakar Danburam-Nuhu (APC-Kano)-led Ad-hoc Committee, the Minister also disclosed that another N600m was recovered from some money deposit banks in continuation of the TDA policy.
She said that the level and nature of the operations of the recoveries required the expertise of consultants which made the discoveries posibble.
She said: “In one branch of a bank, we recovered N1.6b in just one branch. There are many other branches.
“You are looking at the many accounts holding government money before the TSA started. There is a lot,” the Minister observed.
On the recovered N600m, Adeosun said it was recovered as part of the ongoing mopping up of government funds in accounts still being traced, adding, “We got the N600m recently, which was for charges by these banks. It was returned and we are still on it.
“The TSA had been implemented almost 100 percent by the MDAs, though there are a few accounts still outside the system were being followed up”.
She also said some accounts operated by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and West African School Certificate (WAEC) were exempted from the TSA because of the nature of their operations.
On the engagement of Consultants for recoveries while the Office of Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) has competent hands, the Minister explained that Consultants are engaged because their engagement assisted in achieving faster result.
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