The Federal Government says it is awaiting the outcome of investigations into the allegations by a House of Representatives member that stamp duty proceeds to the tune of N89 trillion in the Central Bank of Nigeria has been stolen.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this at the public presentation of the details of the 2023 budget in Abuja.
“There is an investigation that is being carried out by a committee. There are also some investigations that are being carried out by some security agencies.
“We are anxiously waiting for the outcomes of these investigations. If funds are realized from these investigations, it will help us fund the deficit in the 2023 budget.”
Persecondnews also recalls that on December 14, 2022 a House of Representatives member, Mr Muhammed Kazaure, had raised an alarm about an alleged theft of stamp duty proceeds running into N89 trillion.
The Jigawa-born lawmaker claimed that he was in possession of valid documents to prove the existence of such funds in the CBN custody.
He alleged that the apex bank had not remitted stamp duty revenue into government coffers as tax, insisting that the bank remits only 60 per cent to the government while 40 percent goes to private pockets.
Reacting to the presidency’s denial of his allegations, the lawmaker recalled that President Muhamadu Buhari had in June 2022 set up a Presidential Committee on the recovery of stamp duty from 2015 to date with the lawmaker as the Secretary.
According to Kazaure, the president is worried over the unremitted huge sums since he wants to liquidate the nation’s debts before leaving office adding that the money in question would have gone a long way in offsetting the debts
The lawmaker made available documents to substantiate his allegations while disclosing that the CBN governor, Godwin Emefeile, had kept another N171 billion dollars in the bank’s private investors’ account being proceeds of stamp duty.
Kazaure called for the suspension of the CBN boss to enable the relevant authorities to investigate the matter.
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