Funso Olojo
Heritage Bank is holding on to the $21.3m(N7.731.9trl.) belonging to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), according to investigation by Alabingo.com
The funds, which was the balance of the $24,370,06m collected by the bank on behalf of NPA from September 2015 to July 2016 has been trapped in the vault of the bank as Heritage management was said to have frustrated all efforts by NPA to retrieve the money.
The lid over this huge lodgment was blown open by the new management of NPA led by Hadiza Usman Bala when she resumed duties in 2016 after a comprehensive audit was carried out on financial dealings of NPA with all the financial institutions.
It was then discovered that Heritage bank, FCMB, Aso Homes, among others were sitting on various sum of money belonging to the NPA which they refused to remit into the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The audit findings revealed that Heritage bank was holding on to the sum of $24.370.06m, FCMB was holding the sum of six million Euro while Aso Homes had the sum of N400m which they refused to send to the Treasury Single Account(TSA).
According to the NPA, after several efforts mounted on Heritage bank to release the funds, it could only release the sum of $4million into the TSA.
Last year, Ms Usman expressed the frustration of NPA management over the refusal of the bank to remit the huge sum, saying all efforts made by the agency to recover the money were rebuffed by the bank.
‘’It was observed that the revenue collected by Heritage Bank in the sum of $24,370,061 was not being swept to CBN in line with the TSA policy”.
“This was revenue collection made between September 2015 and July 2016. Upon discovery of the failure of Heritage Bank to sweep funds to CBN, the authority suspended the bank from further revenue collections.
“Spirited efforts had been made through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to get the money back but only $4 million has been paid so far. Following several letters and a series of meetings with the CBN to mandate Heritage Bank to pay these funds, the CBN had in January indicated that it will guarantee the funds but we are yet to receive confirmation”.
“As at today, the authority has an outstanding refund of $21 million with Heritage Bank. We have expressed our dissatisfaction and frustration to the CBN and the OAGF over the non-remittance and have sought for sanctioning of the bank’’, the NPA MD has declared.
Hadiza reechoed her frustration last week when she appeared before an ad hoc committee led by Mr Damburam Abubakar- Nuhu of the House investigating compliance with the TSA policy by government agencies.
The NPA MD reiterated a series of interventions by the CBN to retrieve the money which she claimed had failed.
According to her, Heritage Bank’s reason for not remitting the money is that withdrawal of such huge amount would have stress on the bank.
‘’We wrote the CBN a number of letters and they promised to provide a guarantee. Up till date, they have not given us the guarantee’’ Usman lamented.
Investigation however revealed that the bank may not be in a hurry to release the fund as it was said to be using it as a hedge against a drop in its capital and deposit funds base.
The bank in this regard may not spare any effort, including using delaying tactics through legal means to frustrate the efforts of the NPA to retrieve the money.
Sources claimed that the bank is hiding under the guise of “trying to sort out its liability issues arising from the acquisition of Enterprise Bank” to hold on to the NPA fund.
A source close to the bank whispered to our correspondent that payment of the money to NPA has been structured to be made in tranches, adding that only the first tranche payment of $4million has been made.
He however claimed ignorance of when the next tranche will be remitted to the NPA.
“We are making the payment as NPA requested. The payment has been structured and is to be made in a particular schedule. So we have paid the first tranche. We have paid according to what the agency asked us to’’, the source claimed.
However, the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, debunked any payment arrangement with the bank, adding that non-remittance of the $24.1million by the bank to the TSA with CBN raised the initial concern.
Bello-Koko had late last year expressed the fervent hope of the NPA management that Heritage bank would release the funds from its vault latest January this year, going by the series of joint efforts with the CBN to prevail on the bank.
However, such hope may have been dashed as the bank seemed not moved by the subtle threat of the agency to recover the money.
“We are pushing to ensure that the payment is made before the end of the year. And I’m sure that that payment will come in before the end of the year, or maximally before the end of January 2017. We want to make it public when we are done. We are working on it in conjunction with the CBN and we believe that Heritage Bank will pay that debt latest by end of January.”, declared the NPA chief last year.
However, the enthusiasm and hope of the agency have taken a flight in the face of the latest development.
In November last year, First Bank Plc, which handles Heritage Bank’s universal clearing activities, had threatened to blacklist the Heritage Bank and stop further clearing transactions if its outstanding deficit of over N5 billion is not cleared.
That came about seven months after the CBN in April 2016 barred the bank from foreign exchange transactions for failing to remit the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) dollar funds into the Federal government’s Treasury Single Account domiciled in the CBN.
The NPA’s $24.1million TSA debacle further compounded the debt crisis of the bank which then raised the concerns of its depositors over its health.
The management of the bank had then quickly debunked the growing concerns of its depositors and the state of its financial health being discussed in hushed tones when, in a statement published on its website, it denied that it was distressed.
“Whilst we acknowledge the challenging operating environment currently experienced in all sectors of the economy, Heritage Bank remains financially stable and has continued to discharge its obligations to all customers and stakeholders,” it stated.
This assertion was also corroborated by the CBN its statement which gave the bank a clean bill of health.
However, financial analysts have scoffed at these denials which they said were merely meant to calm the frayed nerves and not to send panic to the depositors which may injure the fragile nature of the banking system in Nigeria.