Members of the judiciary and the National Assembly were gripped with fear yesterday as news broke out that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) had demanded for their account details from banks in the country.
In a letter the NFIU sent to the banks, it said that such information must include the account names and numbers of the judicial and legislative officials including the management of the National Assembly Service Commission and the National Judicial Service Commission.
According to TheCable online medium, which first reported the news, the letter was dated September 10, 2019.
It was gathered that officials of the NFIU yesterday, none of them was forthcoming of the said letter. They promised to call back for confirmation or otherwise, but never did at the time of filing this report last night.
The apprehension of the affected officials was caused by the sweeping nature of the letter and its insistence that the details must cover all the bank accounts of the legislators and judges.
No reason for the request was given in the letter which was signed by NFIU associate director of Analysis and Compliance, Fehintola Salisu.
In the letter addressed to the chief compliance officers of banks, NFIU also demanded the account details of the National Assembly and the National Judicial Council (NJC).
Although it listed judges and National Assembly members as well, there was no mention of any member of the executive arm of government.
The letter read: “Request for information on: All accounts of the National Assembly, National Judicial Council (NJC), all the members of the National Assembly, principal officers (management) of the National Assembly Service Commission, (and) of principal officers of the judiciary.
“Kindly provide the NFIU with a schedule (account names and account numbers) of the National Assembly, members of the National Assembly and principal officers of the National Assembly Service Commission, as well as all accounts of National Judicial Service Commission and their principal officers including judges and other relevant politically exposed persons.”
The agency led by Hamman Tukur directed the banks to forward the information on or before Friday, September 13, 2019.
NFIU’s operations came into full force last year when President Muhammadu Buhari signed a bill that made it independent of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The new law empowers NFIU to among others, “receive currency transaction reports, suspicious transactions reports, currency declaration reports and other information relating to money laundering and extremists financing activities from financial institutions.”
The NFIU had recently vowed to make public the assets of all public officials and senior political office holders.