Date Published: 09/06/09

Sir,

Establish a bank and rob the public

There is no doubt that what we have been witnessing in our financial sector has been a situation where people set up banks in order to rob the public. A bank is established and people are called to subscribe to the shares and make deposits only to find out they enriched clever few.

I remember clearly in the era of many banks; one chief from Edo State that owned controlling share in now defunct merchant bank was quizzed by bank regulatory body over debt his companies owed the (same) bank.  His answer was simple; I owe myself and nothing in that, he affirmed.

Conversely, the system obtained at the federal, state and local government levels as to custodian of the public funds could be liken to what is obtained with the troubled banks. The bank chief executives use bank funds as if they belong to them, likewise some State and Local government heads to funds kept in their care.

Regarding the conflicting figures given out by CBN and the actual debtors, it should be noted that the concerned banks rather than the CBN should be blamed. There was no way the CBN could have manufactured figures different from the records it saw in the books of the affected banks. The confusion is between the borrowers and the banks that have tried to hide under falsehood, refusing to reconcile accounts as it were.

Dr. Emmanuel James, Plot 1159 Woji Road, Port Harcourt