BENIN CITY- A Lagos – based Lawyer, Chukwuma Obiorah has called on the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to investigate the activities of some banks in Nigeria which fleece their customers through illegal and hidden charges.
Obiorah, who also disclosed plans by a Human Rights firm to meet with the Senate Committee on Banking, said this had become necessary because such unethical bank practices were capable of making the Nigerian banking public lose confidence in the banking sector.
He gave the instance of a popular Bank with its head office in Victoria Island, Lagos, which charged an innocent bank customer, COT on a cheque which was issued to the customer by a third party.
According to him, “under CBN rules and regulations, such charges are to be implemented by the paying bank or the bank from which the cheque was issued and not the bank receiving the cheque.”
Stating that such charges were illegal, Obiora similarly recalled an incident where four illegal online transfers were made from an innocent bank customer’s account Nine months ago, while the bank only managed to refund two of the illegal transfers.
He said if the EFCC and the CBN failed to act immediately against such illegal bank practices, it would mean that the authorities were permitting and condoning the fleecing of Nigerians by unscrupulous bank managements, to the detriment of a healthy banking sector.
“If Nigeria is to achieve its goals of being among the 20 biggest economies by 2020, it is imperative, that the authorities look into such malpractices,” no matter how big the defrauding banks are, he added.
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