Reps propose 20-year jail term, asset forfeiture for fraudulent bankers 

The House of Representatives is considering stricter punishment for workers in the banking sector confirmed to have committed fraud, raising the jail term from 10 to 20 years in addition to forfeiture of assets.

This is being proposed in the Bank Employee etc (Declaration or Assets) Act I Amendment) Bill, 2020, which passed the second reading at the plenary on Wednesday.

The legislation, which was sponsored by a member of the House, Francis Waive, is titled ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Bank Employees, Etc. (Declaration of Assets) Act, Cap. BI, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004; and for Related Matters (HB.1180)’

The explanatory memorandum read, ‘The bill seeks to make the punishment for fraud perpetuity by bank employees more punitive so as to serve as a deterrent to other bank staff members.’

The particularly seeks to amend Section 5(1) of the Act by substituting the existing words with, ‘The chief executive of every bank shall once in every year, but no later than 7th January, submit to the appropriate authority, a list of all employees who joined or left the employment of the bank in the immediate preceding 12 months expiring on 31st December of the preceding year.’

Section 7(2) of the Act will also be amended by substituting the existing words with, ‘Any employee guilty of an offence under the section shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for twenty years and shall, in addition, forfeit the excess asset or its equivalent in money to the Federal Government.’

Leading the debate on the bill, Waive said, “We know the challenge today in our country with internet fraud and banking. The amendment of this Act is meant to achieve two things: first is to ensure that banks have up-to-date data yearly record of their staff such that when there is an infraction, it is easy to trace the staff (member) who is involved. We are in days when bank fraud has increased, with “Yahoo business’ (Internet fraud) that the young people are doing.

“More importantly, it is to increase the punishment for bank staff (members) who are involved in fraudulent activities in customers’ accounts. The aim here is to increase punishment (from 10 years) up to 20 years imprisonment, to serve as a deterrent so that this upsurge we are seeing today in fraudulent activities in bank accounts is brought to a minimum or eliminated completely.”

In their contributions, some lawmakers decried that banks often protect their fraudulent workers except the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is involved, while others wanted the definition of ‘bank employee’ to capture the chief executives and board members.