Stamp Duty: Senate Probes Alleged Non-Remittance of N20trn Collected By CBN

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Senate has commenced investigation into the alleged non-remittance into the Federation Account of N20 trillion stamp duty collected since the last five years by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani, disclosed this at a session with journalists at the weekend.

He said that the committee decided to probe the apex bank following petitions that the CBN allegedly failed to remit stamp duty totaling over N20 trillion collected from the commercial banks to the Federation Account since it was introduced in 2016.

He said the committee “is investigating the matter, but cautioned against potentially damaging comments on the issue,” saying it had received petitions on this allegation against the CBN and for the past six months we have been meticulously investigating the matter.

He, however, said what the committee “has uncovered so far is not what some petitioners want Nigerians to believe,” thereby urging members of the public, especially critical stakeholders, not to be in a hurry to conclude that the CBN had actually erred.

Since the inauguration of his committee last year, the chairman of the committee said the alleged non- remittance of stamp duty by the CBN had been on the front burner and receiving requisite attention at the committee level.

He added that the committee “has obtained records of other agencies of the Federal Government investigating or familiar with the matter apart from information sourced from the apex bank.

“It is much more complicated than what most Nigerians know. However, what I can say for now is that from what we have been able to sieve out from documents available to us as well as the depositions we have taken, it is clear that so many forces are confusing Nigerians on this issue.

“With the evidence contained in the plethora of documents the CBN has supplied to my committee, it can easily be deduced that the total stamp duty unremitted can not be over N20 trillion as being alleged.

“For one, from records available to us, the total deposit in the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria as of 2016 was only about N18 trillion; so how then can Stamp Duties alone be N21 trillion as being claimed by some petitioners?” the lawmaker queried.

He revealed that from records available to his committee, stamp duty collection commenced in January 2016 when the CBN issued the circular directing Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to commence imposition of stamp duty collection.

From the records the CBN and other agencies of the federal government “have supplied to the Senate Committee, he said it was glaring that the total number of transactions, including transactions excluded from stamp duty charge, from 2016 to November 2017 is about N518, 043, 467.

He said: “If you do the simple arithmetic, the stamp duty on these transactions would have amounted to about N25.902 billion. Don’t also forget that savings accounts are exempted from payment of stamp duty by law, and these account for about 75 per cent of all bank accounts.

“With all things considered, my committee believes that the sum remitted by banks to the Stamp Duty Collection Account with the CBN from inception in January 2016 would well be around N41 billion as of October 2019. But like I said, investigations are still on-going.

“Be rest assured that our conclusive findings would be made available to the public. Nigerians deserve to know the whole truth,” the chairman of the committee explained.

On whether or not the N41 billion earned from stamp duty has been remitted to the Federation Account by the CBN, Sani emphasised that the committee “is not unaware of a number of court cases preventing the apex court from making the remittances.

“That is exactly what I was trying to make you understand, this matter is more complex than the petitioners are making it seem. For example, we have found out that the CBN is somewhat shackled and unable to make the remittances because of pending cases in court, particularly the one pending in the Supreme Court.

“I do not want to give too much details on the matters that are in court, you can find out from either the CBN or parties in the matter. But I believe the CBN is acting out of respect for the courts.”