Date Published: 06/01/11

N10b loan controversy: Your action is in bad faith, Bankole slams EFCC
…Says ex-president condoned violence while in office

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of acting in bad faith in respect of the alleged N10 billion loan currently rocking the House.

Bankole’s charge came even as his office said the Speaker never saw the contentious loan as it was wired into each member’s bank account directly in

line with the e-payment financial transaction policy operated in the House. He said in a letter to the Chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri on Tuesday, which was made available to Daily Sun yesterday that he considered the manner the anti-graft body had gone about the matter “very curious and unethical.”

He said the EFCC was engaging in “sensational prosecution and conviction on the pages of newspapers on an issue as grave as corruption without ever communicating with him.” Bankole denied he snubbed the commision on Tuesday as was reported in the media since there was neither a proper invitation to him nor a commitment on his part to honour a non-existent invitation.

In reference to a letter from the EFCC dated May 27 in which the commission acknowledged Bankole’s request for the rescheduling of interview, the Speaker said he had never at any time written the EFCC asking for rescheduling of an interview for May 31 as he had never received any invitation for an interview in the first place. The Speaker who said he was not averse to an interview with the commission stated, however, that the EFCC had to formally request for such an interview and provide information about the specific issues involved.

“You would no doubt appreciate that the fundamental right of every citizen of Nigeria is guaranteed by the constitution which you, as the chairman of the EFCC, must uphold. In that regard, all cards must be placed on the table to enable the Hon. Speaker respond to any relevant issue which you must want to raise,” the letter said.

A source close to Bankole said yesterday that the purported N10 billion loan for which the EFCC had launched an investigation arose from a decsion taken by the House in the absence of the Speaker last year.

He also said all communication by the EFCC in respect of the matter had been with the clerk of the House until last Friday when the commssion hurriedly addressed a letter originally meant for the clerk to the Speaker.

He traced the ongoing controversy to the decision of the House some time last year to increase the running cost of the members from N27 million to N42 million during a session presided over by the Deputy Speaker in Bankole’s absence.

According to him, when Bankole came back and saw the decision taken in his absence, he had thrown the matter back to the House which set up an ad-hoc committee on the matter. The committee was to recommend a 37-member committee comprising a member from each of the 36 states and the federal capital. It was the 37-man committee known as Members Welfare Enhancement Committee that eventually authorised the House leadership to source for the money.

He further disclosed that the House got a loan of N1.5 billion from the Senate; N1.2 billion from the management, and another N6 billion from the UBA, bringing the total amount to N8.5 billion, excluding the interest on the money sourced from the bank. In deciding to take the loan, he said the committee reasoned that since the 2010 budget had already been passed, the amount would be built into the 2011 appropriation.

Alleging that it was the bank that leaked the information that the House took the loan, the source said the UBA acted in bad faith when it saw that both the Speaker and his deputy were not returning to the House and decided to sit on the money meant for the House in January.

“They stabbed the Reps in the back; they have been keeping the account of the House for the past 12 years, unlike the Senate that operates accounts in three different banks,” he said.

courtesy The Sun