Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Bankers Join Whistleblowing Bussiness

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Monday, March 20, 2017

Bankers Join Whistleblowing Bussiness

Bankers, mainly account officers, have started to take advantage of the federal government’s whistleblowing policy to report the wrongdoings of former and current public office holders suspected to have embezzled public funds and stashed them in several Nigerian banks.



A reliable source with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who disclosed this at the weekend, said that some bankers have been encouraged largely by the reward of between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the total amount recovered.

According to the source, several former and current public officers who had allegedly stolen from the treasury either hid the physical cash in safe houses or used shell companies, close aides, associates and family members to stash the ill-gotten funds in bank accounts using the names of the companies or their friends, family members and associates.

However, though the accounts are not in the names of the political office holders, they usually operate the accounts themselves, a fact that is well known by the bank account officers who help them to manage the accounts.

As a result, since the federal government unveiled the whistleblowing policy as a means of recovering stolen public sector funds, a number of junior and middle-level bankers have been quietly ratting on the true beneficiaries of the accounts in order to cash in on the rewards derivable from the policy.

The EFCC source said that once the commission is contacted by a banker, it is usually easy to identify the real beneficiary of the bank accounts through the Bank Verification Number (BVN), since an account holder can only have one BVN for all of his individual and company accounts.

The source said: “Junior to middle-level account officers in the banks are the major whistleblowers. That is why we (EFCC) have been recovering a lot of money since the policy was unveiled.

“They are ratting on politicians and public office holders. Some of these politicians use shell companies; some use companies in which they are not even directors or shareholders. Some also use friends, family members and associates.

“But because the public office holders still manage the accounts themselves, the BVNs can still be traced to them.


“For instance, once there is a suspicious bank account, the account officer informs the EFCC, which in turn carries out the investigation and then gets a freeze order on the account(s), following which the suspect will be invited for interrogation.”

The $9.8 million recovered by the EFCC from a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Andrew Yakubu, was the fallout of a clash between Yakubu and his political opponents in Kaduna States, who used a very close family member of the former NNPC boss to snitch on him to the anti-graft agency.

A special operation conducted by EFCC operatives on February 3, 2017 on a building belonging to Yakubu in Kaduna, yielded the staggering sum and another £74,000 in cash. The huge cash was hidden in a fire proof safe in the building.

However, the EFCC source explained that the family member, whose identity has been kept under wraps for security reasons, may not be entitled to the reward provided in the whistleblowing policy, because Yakubu who has maintained that the cash found in the house was a gift, has challenged the temporary forfeiture order obtained by the EFCC from the court to the federal government.

“Should he win his case and the amount returned, the whistleblower will not be entitled to anything,” the source said.

The source said one way that the government could encourage more whistleblowing is by being transparent on how much has been paid to individuals who have gone on a limb to expose illicit transactions without disclosing their identities.

“That way, more people will be encouraged to expose illegal activities in their organisations and in the public sector,” he said.

The federal government last December approved a whistleblowing policy to expose fraud and other related crimes in both the public and the private sectors.
Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had while urging Nigerians to key into the scheme said the policy devised by her ministry was aimed at encouraging anyone with information about a violation, misconduct or improper activity that impacts negatively on Nigerians and government to report it.

According to her, the policy’s objective is to increase exposure of financial or financial-related crimes; support the fight against financial crimes and corruption; improve the level of public confidence in public entities; enhance transparency and accountability in the management of public funds; improve Nigeria’s Open Government Ranking and Ease of Doing Business Indicators; and recover public funds that can be deployed to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit.

She listed information that could be submitted to include: mismanagement or misappropriation of public funds and assets (e.g. properties and vehicles); financial malpractice or fraud; collecting/soliciting bribes; corruption; diversion of revenue; fraudulent and unapproved payments; splitting of contracts; procurement fraud (kickbacks and over-invoicing etc.).

The minister defined a whistleblower as any person who voluntarily discloses information in good faith about a possible misconduct or violation that has occurred, is ongoing, or is about to occur.

The reward for a whistleblower was put at between 2.5 per cent (minimum) and five per cent (maximum) of the total amount recovered.

Meanwhile, the federal government at the weekend reiterated its desire to protect and reward whistleblowers whose information provide leads in the recovery of stolen funds and assets.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the assurance to the public in a statement after concerned citizens drew the attention of the Presidential Assets Recovery Committee to the recriminations whistleblowers were being subjected to in some public establishments.

While reiterating the desire of government to reward whistleblowers in both the public and private sectors, Mohammed assured them that their identity would be protected and the information they disclosed kept secret.
“’For those who may have suffered any backlash as a result of the information they provide, their cases will be reviewed and appropriate mitigating actions taken.

“Whistleblowers have nothing to fear, because the committee has put in place the necessary measures to safeguard those who give useful information.
“As a matter of fact, whistleblowers have everything to gain and nothing to lose,” he said.

Mohammed stressed that in line with the policy, anybody whose information leads to the recovery of up to N5 billion could be rewarded handsomely to the tune of N210 million, calculated as N50 million on the first N1 billion (five per cent) and N160 million which is 4 per cent of the remaining N4 billion.

He added further that any amount that exceeds N5 billion would attract a higher reward.
“For example, if a whistleblower provides information leading to the recovery of N10 billion, he or she will receive 5 per cent of the first N1 billion, 4 per cent of the next N4 billion and 2.5 per cent of the remaining N5 billion.

“What we have done by making this information public is to reassure potential whistleblowers that the plan to reward is real. We are not just saying we will pay all whistleblowers, but we are letting them know in advance what they are entitled to once the information they provide leads to the recovery of looted funds,” he said.



Edited from Thisdaylive



24 comments:

  1. Whistle blowing is the new money making business

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  2. Hmmmmm. Money must be made.

    🎺 🎺 🎺

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  3. Oh oh! No more chill. Whistle blowing tii take over

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  4. Soon they will start assasinating the whistleblowers one after the other, no be Naija again? They should trade with caution.

    Anyway time to make cool money has landed.

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  5. Let them continue the whistle blowing till they start sacking amd killing them fools, this will chase their big customers away

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  6. Any banker that does this is stupid, because of how much I will taint my career that iv built over how many years. For a govt that wont give you zilch protection when chips are down.

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    Replies
    1. I am telling u and they will scare rich customers away from depositing money in their banks.

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    2. @beds and roses...really?! Which career are you talking about? A junior banker that earns like 50-60k monthly? How can you even compare that to 5% of 9.8million dollars? I can see you have no foresight. With the money gotten from the whistle blowing wouldnt the banker be made for life if invested properly? Who career wey no get better pay epp? Abegie!!!!

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    3. I was a banker for 15 years. Dedicated and stuff.... Until I was tossed out for no reason. Sacked without any benefits by diamond bank. These banks ain't loyal to their employees and their is no need for any employee to be loyal to them. If I had the opportunity, I would whistle blow without blinking.

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    4. @virus I have no foresight indeed. You are the one without foresight. Not all whistleblowers fees will be that high,plus you won't be given protection.your name will be all out there and your career will be finished. I would rather have a good name than millions of naira.
      I will use myself as example. I once left a job I wasn't treated well there. I left honourably returned part of my upfront for the year. While my colleague left never returned he's and never returned staff loan and his name travelled all round,he's in UK.He can't use job in his cv again,he won't get good reference. When I got to my next job found out my new chairman was a director in the company I had just left. I saw my old colleagues and boss quite alot in my new job then. Even got good reviews from them.
      As a whistleblower that money may not be enough you may still work elsewhere and need reference from an old job.
      Forget any govt protection. This ain't US. You may never get a bank job again.

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  7. Who will i blow self? Bankers una weldone ooo. Na una time be this

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  8. Whistle blowers ti take over,but they shouldn't have mentioned the bankers as their main source though, they put them at risk now

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    1. Exactly! And then they go on to say, your identity will be hidden.. Why will they even say bankers are their main source, and also that a close family member/friend revealed that of Mr. Yusuf? Doesn't correlate with the said going mute on identity.
      Dear EFFC or NEMA(FEMA), kindly hire me to aid in restructuring your regulations.. Will like to relocate back home to help with developing Nigeria. Just in case any other company out there reads this.
      Lagos or Abuja.
      Emergency management/HS
      Thanks

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  9. They should do it secretly. I think Fg should remove this whistle blowers reward, it will make people help them secretly without any harm because of the nature of our nation's security.

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  10. I need help, not financial, I just need to get my mind and hands busy, the way my mind travels far isn't healthy at all. I stay in egbeda. IOG.

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  11. Bankers are in for cool money

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  12. How about the safety of the whistleblower?

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  13. They should shaii be careful ohhh

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  14. This new policy will make even brothers betray each other especially if one holds public office and his rich but stingy....Efcc this una strategy bad gon...since is naija don't be surprised that even the whistleblowers won't be safe cos someone go still betary them..na wa

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  15. Which dirty percentage for whistle blowers? For this Nigeria that's full of fake promises and no plans to protect whistle blowers!!
    Abeg make them shift and stop using people's heads to help them do their jobs.

    ReplyDelete

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