NFIU denies investigating Senate president, speaker, CJN others

The Nigerian Financial Intelligence on Monday denied media reports that it is investigating the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and members of the National Assembly.

The NFIU which expressed dismay that some people were seeking political advantage from its leaked confidential letter to banks requesting the bank details of principal government officials acussed those opposed to the present administration of speaking through some non-governmental organisations.

In a statement made available to newsmen, it’s Chief Media Analyst, Ahmed Dikko, said the unit had the responsibility, in accordance with global standards, to maintain and regularly update the list of politically exposed persons.

Dikko further explained that the officer who initiated the request to the banks was unaware that the NFIU already had access to such information through its database.

Diko said, “It will be recalled that a new government was inaugurated in May 2019. The officer who initiated the unauthorized letter was also taking the initiative to update the PEPs list.
“This list includes politicians and political appointees in all organs of government. The update exercise which is a regular practice in order to protect public funds and other assets is also in accordance with global best practice.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Federation as well as Senators, members of the House of Representatives, Justices and other members of the judiciary are not under investigation by the NFIU.”

“Having been aware that the leaked letter was not subjected to the appropriate level of authorization before transmission, the NFIU has commenced investigation to unravel the persons and the factors that led to the inadvertent circumvention of our internal process in this isolated case with a view to applying appropriate sanctions as deterrence.”

NFIU cautioned against making political capital out of the leaked letter, as Nigeria was a co-signatory with other 164 members of the Financial Intelligence Unit processes.