Asset Declaration: CBN extends deadline to Bank CEOs, top executives

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has extended the deadline giving to Bank CEOs, and top executives to submit their asset declaration form to June ending from the earlier June 14 deadline that has passed.

The EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had initially in March given top bankers, among others, till June 1, 2021, to declare their assets in line with the Bank Employees, ETC (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, with defaulters said to risk 10 years in jail if found guilty by any Federal High Court.

He said, “We understood that at the tail end of every financial crime, it is for the criminal to have access to the funds that he or she has illegitimately acquired and we are worried about the roles of financial institutions.

When asked what would happen if the bank executives don’t make their asset declaration form available, the investigator said, “We will cross the bridge when we get to that point. But this is a matter of law. Anyone who makes false declarations actually risks 10 years in prison.”

According to the Bank Employees, ETC (Declaration of Assets) Act 1986, bankers should declare their assets through the appropriate authority like the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. But the forms were hardly ever scrutinised, a trend which the EFCC seeks to change.

Section 1 of the Act states, “Every employee of a bank shall, within fourteen days of the commencement of this Act, make a full disclosure of all his assets.

The Act in Section 5 states that the Chief Executive of every bank “shall twice in every year, but not later than 7 January, or 7 July, as the case may be, submit to the appropriate authority a list of all employees who joined or left the employment of the bank in the immediately preceding six months expiring respectively on 31 December of the previous year and 30 June of that year respectively.”