The CEOs of Zenith, Providus, and Jaiz banks are currently facing questioning from the Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, regarding their role in alleged N37 billion fraudulent transactions tied to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.
Officials from the anti-graft agency confirmed this development on Tuesday, stating that the executives were summoned as the commission found that a significant portion of the fraudulent transactions was conducted through their respective banks.
Contrary to speculation, the bank executives were not arrested but were invited due to a violation of existing legislation that mandates them to report any suspicious transactions on their platforms to security personnel, a requirement they failed to fulfil.
The source said: “The three bank MDs are here with us. They are facing our interrogators. It is not that they were arrested; they were summoned.
“We invited them because most of the transactions involved in this fraudulent case went through their banks and there are extant banking regulations which say if there are suspicions of transactions, you are expected to report to the anti-corruption agency and they did not do that.
“The normal banking rules that they breached and of course their involvement in the transaction is why they are facing queries concerning that.”
The anti-corruption agency is investigating Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, in connection with an alleged N37.1 billion fraud.
Additionally, Betta Edu was invited on Monday, shortly after her suspension from office by President Bola Tinubu. Sadiya Umar-Farouq complied with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s invitation on Monday, visiting the agency’s office after failing to do so in response to a previous invitation.
“I have, at my behest, arrived at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to honour the invitation by the anti-graft agency to offer clarifications in respect of some issues that the commission is investigating,” she said in a tweet.
