The State Security Service in its bid to investigate the alleged N10 billion money laundering by the sons of the Governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido have arrested over 13 bankers involved in the transactions.
Banks implicated in the scandal include Skye Bank, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB), Wema Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, First Bank, Sterling Bank, Zenith Bank, Unity Bank, EcoBank and CitiBank.
The bankers are said to have been detained for over 2 weeks in violation of their civil, human and constitutional rights, however the SSS has said the son’s may have been involved in terrorist financing which makes it difficult to secure the release of anyone connected to the case.
The SSS has also filed an exparte motion in order to freeze the bank accounts belonging to the Lamido’s.
The motion read, “An order is hereby made freezing the accounts of the underlisted corporate body and financial institutions in the banks (1st – 14th respondents) indicated against their names for their suspected involvement with acts of terrorists’ financing and money laundering.
“An order is hereby made compelling the 2nd to 14th respondents (the banks) in this case to deliver up and furnish the State Security Service/applicant in this case with the respective bank statements and mandate cards of the 1st (Adold Engineering) and 2nd respondents (Fidelity Bank) in this case.
“An order of the Honourable Court is hereby made keeping the above listed accounts frozen until the conclusion of investigations.
“That the ex parte order of the court made is to last for one month from date of service on the respondents with liberty to party(ies) to comply to this court as they deem fit within the said period.”
The SSS is said to have in one instance invaded the home of one of the bankers with machine guns, and rummaging for files by cutting open mattresses and searching through children’s clothes.
Other bankers were summoned or arrested and bundled to the SSS office in Abuja. None of the bankers have been given access to their families or lawyers according to a source with information on the raid.
A CBN official with knowledge of the raids said, “The situation is most worrisome because these personnel have been in detention for more than ten days.
“Our laws provide that no one can be detained for more than 48 hours and if the SSS has a case against them, they should be charged to court instead of holding them for days unend.
“We are also concerned that the SSS lacks the capacity to carry out a thorough investigation on financial crimes of this nature, as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which works in conjunction with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit is better suited to these kinds of investigations.
“Besides, all the banks render anti-money laundering returns daily to the CBN and EFCC under an automated system, so if the SSS had made the relevant enquiries they could have been furnished with all the details they needed.”