Leadership (Abuja)
7 January 2009
editorial
Nigerian banks were recently accused of aiding and abetting the spate of kidnappings and piracy in the Niger Delta and the nation's territorial waters by shielding the identities of those who own the accounts into which relatives of kidnap victims are often compelled to lodge ransom funds.
The Nigerian Trawler Operators Association (NITOA) specifically accused the banks of facilitating ransom payment to kidnappers and hostage takers, culminating in its members' loss of over N3 billion.
This accusation, no doubt, raises another ethical question for the banks as well as provides the evidence that criminals still operate accounts through which proceeds of crime are laundered with the active connivance of banks. Banks are required to alert the relevant security agencies when lodgements are made in private accounts in excess of N1million, but it seems the directive is not being obeyed.
The security agencies should, therefore, swing into action and unravel the owners of the accounts into which ransoms were paid. The trawler owners and other victims that paid ransoms through banks should be compelled to name the banks involved in money laundering.
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