N58.3bn TSA money: Reps summon Heritage Bank, Aso Savings MDs

The House of Representatives Committee on Treasury Single Account (TSA), yesterday, summoned the managing directors of Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo and Aso Savings, Hassan Usman, to appear before it over an undisclosed N58.3 billion in the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Chairman of the committee, Abubakar Danburam (PDP, Kano), who stated this in Abuja while briefing newsmen after the two bank chiefs failed to honour a scheduled meeting with the lawmakers, also threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against them should they fail to appear on a date yet to be fixed.

“Today, we are supposed to meet with Heritage Bank and Aso Savings with regard to the Treasury Single Account (TSA). As you can see, none of their management or staff is here.

“Our independent investigations have revealed that contrary to what Heritage Bank submitted to us, they also have two undisclosed accounts in the TSA.

“The one with Nigerian Export and Import (NEXIM) Bank has USD104 million while a second one with Nigerian Maritime Administration Safety Agency (NIMASA) has USD46,000. Yet, there is another N21 billion, which also forms part of our enquiry. We want to know why they did not reveal those accounts to this committee.

“We hereby give the managing directors of Heritage Bank and Aso Savings the opportunity of summon to appear before this committee on a date to be announced later. If they fail, we will then issue a warrant of arrest against them,” Danburam stated.

He lamented that the absence of the two bank chiefs meant that the final reports of the committee would be further delayed.

A member of the committee, Simon Arabo (PDP, Kaduna), also berated the two financial institutions for failing to honour their invitation, and thus urged them to keep a date with the lawmakers’ summon so as not to risk avoidable consequences.