Keystone Bank Limited has denied having in its custody any illegally hidden money belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria or any of its agencies.
The Allegation
It would be recalled that the Senate had accused the bank of colluding with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to conceal about $137 million and thereafter illegally withdrew $4 million.
The Bank’s Response
Keystone Bank, in a statement by the General Counsel & Company Secretary, Dr. Michael Agamah said,
“We wish to state categorically that Keystone Bank Limited has never illegally hidden or withdrawn any amount of money belonging to the Federal Government or any of its agencies.”
Noting that details of all Federal Government funds in custody of Keystone Bank had always been fully disclosed to all relevant Federal Government agencies and at no time did Keystone Bank collude or conspire with any official of the Federal Government to disobey the Federal Government directives on the Treasury Single Account.
The statement also added that “the lender informed its stakeholders that it would not conduct itself in breach of the laws or policies of the government, including the TSA policy and had since been engaging with relevant agencies to remit all funds in the Bank’s custody.”
The Treasury Single Account, is a public accounting system using a single account, or a set of linked accounts by government to ensure all revenue receipts and payments are done through a Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA) at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
While all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies remit their revenue collections to the CRA through their individual commercial banks on a fee-for-service remuneration basis.
TSA allows government banking to be unified, to enable the relevant stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Finance and Accountant General of the Federation to have full oversight of all cash flows across different bank accounts.
Keystone Bank Limited was issued a commercial banking license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2011. On the same day, CBN revoked the banking license of Bank PHB. Keystone Bank assumed the assets and some liabilities of the now defunct Bank PHB.
The bank maintains a network of over 150 business offices and locations in all the states of Nigeria.