Reps probe Soludo, others over banking sector crisis

Written by Duncan Wednesday, 21 October 2009

The House of Representatives yesterday mandated its committees on Banking and Currency, Capital Market and Justice to investigate former Central Bank governor Prof Chukwuma Soludo and other former top leaders of the bank over the rot in the banking sector.

The lawmakers said it was worrisome that the CBN had been consistently claiming that the Nigerian banks were  healthy but regretted that recent revelations in the banking sector prove otherwise.

The MPs in a motion sponsored by Rep Halims Agoda (PDP, Delta State) and supported by 46 others also asked the committees to investigate  the truth or otherwise of the alleged rot and corruption in the sector with regard to the issues of non-performing  loans, capital market manipulations, reckless spending of banks’ funds and allegation of money laundering.

The House directed the committees to ascertain the CBN’s fairness or otherwise to the alleged perpetrators of the rot in the banks as well as applying international best practices in the process.

The MPs asked the committees to verify the total indebtedness of the federal government to the banks and recover them.