The House of Representatives Ad hoc committee set up to investigate and recover unclaimed funds trapped in various commercial banks said it has discovered over N300 billion hidden in the banks.
The Chairman of the Committee, Uyime Idem, who disclosed this at the resumed hearing investigation on Wednesday, said the N300 billion was a fraction of the N1.2 trillion unclaimed funds in commercial banks yet to be discovered.
He said the funds were hanging funds and failed transactions from government agencies and banks that have appeared before it, adding that the committee was trying to recover the money from government agencies and the banks.
Idem warned that commercial banks who are yet to respond to the request by the Committee either to appear or submit documents risk being sanctioned if by Thursday they don’t show up.
He added that if the monies in the banks were recovered, it would go a long way to help the country from borrowing.
The Committee however rejected documents presented to it by Citibank, accusing the bank of falsifying document which contradict the ones earlier presented to it by the bank and also accused the bank of owing the Federal Government about N99 billion from accumulated failed transactions and hanging funds.
Debunking the accusations, the Executive Director, Operation and Technology of Citi bank, Ngozi Omokeme, said they had nothing to hide and that the documents submitted were not falsified.