Your allegations are subterfuge, Unity bank to Presidential panel

Unity Bank has refuted the allegation of sabotage by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property (SPIPRPP), for its refusal to refund N7 billion in excess charges.

The bank, in a statement this morning, says the claims against the Bank were frivolous and Unfounded.

“We hereby, call on our customers and the general public to disregard the allegations which is subterfuge, aimed to unnecessarily smear the image of the Bank,” the statement read.

Recall that, on Monday, SPIPRPP had threatened to charge Unity Bank with offences of economic sabotage if the bank refused to return the about N7bn the bank was owing the Federal Government.

A statement by SPIPRPP’s Head of Media and Communication¸ Lucie-Ann Laha, said N7bn “represents the sum of $15,561,769.99 and N1,488,455,810.90, being excess and arbitrary charges on accounts of some agencies of government by the bank before the institution of Treasury Single Account.”

Unity Bank, in its response, had faulted the allegation against it by SPIPRPP over the ongoing reconciliation of the affected MDA accounts, stating that the report was geared towards misinforming the public and misrepresenting the Bank’s position and nil impact resolutions reached during the reconciliation engagements.

According to the statement, the Bank had conducted itself professionally by providing all evidence of customers instructions requested by the panel as it relates to all the MDAs.

It further noted that, Unity Bank had earlier transferred all the MDAs balances to their respective TSA accounts in Central Bank of Nigeria as far back as 2016.

“Upon approaching the Bank in 2018 to conduct investigations on the subject MDAs, Unity Bank, as a responsible corporate citizen, cooperated with the panel accordingly.

“But out of its own volition, the panel refused to admit further documentary evidence from the Bank when it was obvious that the Bank has no balances kept in its books for the MDAs. Instead, the panel suspended the investigation as apparently it could not fault any of the evidence presented by the Bank,” the statement added.

It further disclosed that SPIPRPP, in an earlier letter, requested the Bank to accept culpability and pay off a certain sum deemed outstanding which the Bank objected and insisted on completing the reconciliation exercise because the claims presented at this point against the Bank were unfounded and frivolous.

It said: “It is therefore surprising for the SPIPRPP to turn back and issue statement to allege sabotage when it abandoned its sitting and investigation midway.”