The Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, SPIP, said it had recovered about N118 million from two commercial banks in the country.
The panel’s Head, Media and Communication, Ms Lucie-Ann Laha disclosed this in a press statement in Abuja on Tuesday.
She said the recoveries followed findings by the panel’s investigation into accounts of the Federal Government Agencies operated by commercial banks from 2009 to 2015.
According to Laha, the panel had earlier assigned a team of forensic auditors the task of x-raying operations of Federal Government accounts domiciled in all commercial banks in the county within that period.
She explained: “Arising from its findings, the panel, in a letter dated January 19, 2019, issued demand notices to the banks that were found wanting, for the amounts the audit team had arrived at.
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“The banks however, disagreed with the figures quoted by the panel’s auditors, following which the panel and the banks held joint accounts reconciliation meetings.
“It was then ascertained and agreed that the first of the two banks would refund N40, 336,186.
“It was also agreed that the second bank will refund N77, 048,825 in three instalments from May to July 2019.
“The first of the banks in question which has since paid its indebtedness being the sum of N40, 336,186 into the panel’s Recovery Account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, also agreed to refund the sum of $56,919.10, to the coffers of the Federal Government.”
She said the panel chose not to name the banks in question because it did not wish to incite panic among their customers.
She explained further that the recoveries were different from the $20 million earlier reported by the panel.
