By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN on Friday reacted to allegations that the Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele misappropriated N89 trillion from stamp duties.
The Secretary of the dissolved Presidential Committee on Reconciliation and Recovery of Stamp Duties Revenue, Kazaure Gudaji made the allegations last week.
However reacting to the allegations during a press interview in Abuja, CBN Director of Corporate Communications Department, Mr Osita Nwanisobi said the total assets of all the banks in Nigeria is not up to that amount.
He said, “We have been hearing these allegations, but they said N89trn stamp duty accumulated and the total assets for Nigerian banks is about N63trn and someone is claiming that fifty kobo accumulated to N89trn, how possible is it?
“If there is any committee in charge, that has nothing to do with us. The committee can do their work, but has nothing to do with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Our most concern is the N89trn because the total assets of all the banks in Nigeria is not up to that amount.
“The publication which claimed that transactions by CBN on the I & E window hit $171bn is false. The I & E window is a platform where people trade in FX, it is not an account, so banks come there to trade, CBN comes in also as an observer, we either buy or sell there because it is a platform.
“When amounts like these are heard off, I think it’s a little bit of a misunderstanding of what I & E window stands for because it’s a platform for trading and people come in there to buy, sell and stock.
“The 40:60 (N100) ratio stamp duty is obedience to the law, because issues around stamp duty is obedience to the law, this is not about CBN, but obeying what the law says. CBN is the creation of the law, and that is why we say, CBN is an institution with statutory flavor.
“Our responsibility is to keep up with the law. The law states that the act on stamp duty must be obeyed, and that is what it does. We keep record of all transactions, that is why whenever we hear such allegations, we are shocked.
“The committee is not approved by CBN, CBN doesn’t set up a committee despite it being set up by President Muhammadu Buhari. And the issue of the committee has been addressed by the committee also”.