Nigerians lose more money to the banks than they lose to armed robbers-- Financial crimes expert

ANIEDE

Soludo

SANUSI

Emeka Ibemere

When the late Civilian Governor of the ancient city of old Kano State, the late Barkin Zuwo bluntly refused to open an account with any of the Nigerian banks in the state for the state funds, many Nigerians labelled him as ‘stark illiterate’; not knowing while the late Governor decided to take such route in keeping the state fund in the government house.

Many years after his death, a Non-Governmental Organization led by a forensic accountant, certified fraud examiner and a financial crimes investigator have given a clue to the late governor’s decision-bank fraud!

Joseph Aniede, National Coordinator, Union of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Customers of Nigeria, an NGO, that tends to defend themselves and protect the rights of bank customers from bank dubious charges, said there is high profile financial crimes going on in the banking industry against customers which even the victims were not aware.

In the Group’s official investigations and activities, it was revealed that Nigerians lose more money to the banks more than they lose to armed robbers.

“Do you know that banks in Nigeria steal more than armed robbers”?  He queried.

“Everybody goes to the bank to transact business. There is no bank customer who has not been a victim of bank fraud committed by the banks themselves. Infact, what banks steal from their customers in a month, no armed robber steals like that in 10 years”, Aniede added.

“Nigeria loses N120billion every year through dubious charges that are not known to law”.

According to him, these stealing go on daily basis because Nigerians who uses bank to do their businesses doesn’t have faint idea of the bank rules and regulations.

 More worrisome, is the fact that those bank customers that banks chase around of heavy unpaid loans didn’t owe the banks after all.

The thirty- something year old forensic expert said the ignorance of Nigerians on banking policies and regulations were the easy tools in the hands of the banks to defraud their naive customers.

“Over 80% of the bank debtors do not owe the banks, it is the banks that owe them and they are paying for their ignorance through the mitigated frauds. If a bank is involved in a fraud that bank cannot claim that such person owns them”, he said. “If any bank is harassing you for owing it, please don’t die in silence bring the matter to us, we will take the matter to the bank and settle it so that you won’t die before your time and safe your money for your children”.

According to him, there has been a sharp dwindling in the banking culture of Nigerians. He disclosed that Nigerian banks are not attracting Nigerians to open account any longer because people are shunning the banks because of the fraud going on in the banks.

He explained that research carried out by EFINE discovered that people don’t go to open bank accounts again because of illegal and dubious charges.

“Infact, most people that have many accounts are closing them. Some that have four are reducing it to one because; when the banks steal from them they angrily close the account. Now, the government is trying to lure people into banking but the banks are scaring people away through unexplained deductions and manipulations of accounts and so many people prefer not to go to banks these days”, he revealed. “Some traders are keeping their money in their shops because they are afraid of bank fraud going on in the banks. All these happened because Nigerians are ignorant of the banking rules and regulations even the apex bank that monitors the banks develop blind eye as innocent Nigerians lose their hard earned money through dubious charges that are not known to any financial law”.

Daily Newswatch gathered that based on these anomalies in the industry, the Group took up the gauntlet and took the war to the banking hall by fighting in the last four years to correct the ills going on in the banking industry.

“We have three major goals: One, to ensure that no bank in this country abuse the rights of any customer and get away with it. Again, to educate every Nigerian about banking rules and regulations because we discovered that over 90% of bank customers in Nigeria do not know anything about bank regulations and policies and this empowered the banks to continue stealing from their customers they way they do”, he added. “Also, to help every bank customer, corporate, individual or organizations to find out and recover any amount of illegal deductions and charges taken away from them in the past. Even if it happened in 10 years time, we can trace it and recover the money for the person. If your bank sells your property illegally we can help you to recover it no matter how many years ago”.  Continuing he stated, “We will trace it, find out what happened and what was done wrongly like most of them do and recover it. Finally, when people go to take loan from banks, we discover that Nigerian banks don’t give loan. They only set up traps and push their customers into it and before you know it, it becomes the more you pay the loan, the more you are indebted to that bank”.

Aniede disclosed that by law, if a bank and a customer are in a dispute that such bank cannot claim that such costumer owns it. “If you are there now and any bank is harassing you, we want that person to come to us with the details of the matter we will recover that debt”, he advised.

On how the Group would do it, the forensic expert opined that they work with the victims’ documents. “Basically, we work with the customers’ document and we deal with that. For example, no bank has the right not to release the statement of account of every customer. So we demand your statement of account and from there, we compare with what the law says”, he explained. “We look at what the law said and what the bank did with your account. No bank in Nigeria follow the approved banking orders and policies in Nigeria, none! It is because, Nigerians are ignorant of the rules and policies guiding the banks and because of this ignorance of customers, the banks now invent their own rules in order to steal where they didn’t sown” adding that, “by the time, you come with your account and if it is credit facility you took, with your letter, we investigate that account and we will be able to discover what was taken, how much was released to you and how they did their deductions”.

It was disclosed that in the case where the bank in question decide not to cooperate the organization, Aniede stated that the law mandates every bank to make statement of account of every customer monthly but that because of the frauds going on in the sector, most banks don’t do it.

“Now, whenever you demand these things now, they can do one or two things but at the end of the day, they must give you your statement of account. What they do now is that they can juggle it by releasing January to June and December to August and by then it becomes another crime, Infact, it is a serious crime for the banks to refuse to release to customers their statement of account”, he added.  

“Our interaction with the banks begin when the customer has giving us his statement of account and other documents we need to facilitate our investigations. And when we have discovered the crime or mistake, we can now approach the bank with figures and facts and show them what the law says on this and that; and see their fault, return it with interest to the customer in question according to what the law said on it. And it must be accompanied with the letter of apology within 24 hours or the bank will pay that money double”.

Aniede said the vision to establish the organization was born in 2010 and it started when he was defrauded of his money with one of the old generation banks in Enugu.

“Yes, in fact, that was when the whole case started. I had an account with an old generation bank in Enugu way back my university days, and meanwhile I was well aware of the banking rules; because that is the one of the basic things you must understand as a forensic accountant”, he disclosed.

“So then I discovered that the bank was doing against what the law permits them to do, so I began to challenge them and each time I challenge them, they will return my money, so I said this bank has millions of customers and how many people can challenge them the way I challenge them because most people don’t understand those basic principles”.

Speaking further, he said.

“I said no, and began to ask people how their banks have been handling their finances and whether they were happy with their banks and they began to open up with all sort of complains and their painful experiences they have encountered with their banks. So we decided to group together to see what we can do together to solve the problem and that was how I started. But today, the banks respect us and deal with us differently in that what they know; we know it even better than them”.

As a forensic accountant, Aniede was trained to investigate figures. “What a police detective does to a criminal case is what a forensic accountant does to financial crimes. So for you to be a forensic accountant, you have to study law basically and do less of accounting. By nature, we were trained not to believe anything until investigated. And we don’t audit we investigate”.

According to him, the training was meant to sniffer figures out whenever there is a financial crime. He said in such case, a forensic investigator will be invited to ascertain the fraud.

“We specialize on financial crimes and we expected to provide expert opinions that can be used to dictate financial crimes. We major on financial crimes and other major crimes. So by my training, I was trained to investigate figures”.

Our source said he started the organization as a private practice when the urge flowed into him but having gone through some issues he discovered that what he thought about financial crimes was beyond the issue.

“First of all, I began like a private practicing in the field of my training, along the line, the issue went beyond what I thought it was. We discovered that every bank in this country have intentionally created dubious means through which they defraud their people and customers. So, defending one person will not solve the problem and we decided to bring people together to solve the common problem of everybody”, he said. “It started four years ago, people of like minds who share the same experience gather together and agreed that we cannot take the nonsense again. We also decided to let the masses of Nigeria know by teaching them their rights and how the banks have been stealing from their accounts”.

“We have our registered certificate we obtained from Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, aside that we work together with the CBN. We work with the ant- fraud agencies like EFCC, SFU, ICPC, and other agencies set up to handle financial crimes in the country”.

Within its four years of existence, the fraud examiner said they have recovered over N500 million in over 300 cases handled by the Group spread across the 37 states and Abuja.

“In fact that landmark case is even an old issue. There is recent one, there is a case involving Association of Micro Finance Bank, they have an issue with a new generation bank and when we went into the matter, the bank agreed to return the money. I have the letter they wrote in regards to that. They have paid half of the money and we are to take them to court for stealing and abuse of banking rules”, he said.

“If you put up the cases we have on ground, it is close to N20billion worth of different cases that we are to recover from the banks. Some of them are in courts”.

The Group claimed to have settled another case involving Good Neighbour Micro Finance Bank and ENNEX enterprises.  In that case, daily Newswatch gathered that the man has been a customer to a bank for over four years, to supply electrical appliances. Then each time he has LPO, the bank would finance it and take half of the proceeds from the man and the man had no option but to keep on doing the business so that he could have something, no matter how small. But at a point, something went wrong, the man wasn’t paid on time and the bank moved in to take over the security which he used as collateral. “So they started harassing the man and by the time the man reported the matter to us and after our discreet investigation, we discovered that the bank instead of the man owed the man. It was the bank that owed the man”, he stated further.

“They have been stealing from the man to the tune of NI.48million from his account and at the end of the day, we took them to the CBN and at the end they accepted that they took over N280, 000 from the man at the end of the day, the Micro Finance ran away and left the man’s property. They asked their MD to withdraw the matter but we refused and ask them to pay compensation to the man for consequential damages”.

“There is another venture that has an account with an old generation bank, this man has been a distributor to Nigerian Breweries for years and they have tripartite agreement with the bank, Nigerian breweries and the man. They will supply the man through the bank and the bank will pay Nigerian breweries. If you see how bank ruined the man and his business you will shed tears”, Aniede claimed.

“They wreck this man down and when this old man came to our office, the old man above sixty was shedding tears. Before then some auditors have been working for the man and when he came in , we took the documents from his auditors and went to the bank, and the bank went to AMCON and tell them that the man has a debt he cannot pay and that AMCON should take over the man business so by the time we investigated the matter, we discover that the case had already been settled by the Banker’s union where the bank agreed that they stole about N4million from the man and return it to the man and instead of giving it to the man, they said they were going to give it to the AMCON; so by the time we investigated it we find out that instead of the man owing the bank, it was the bank that own the man and that the bank has stolen over N140million from his account and rendered this man useless”.

He disclosed that the Group move down to AMCON head office in Abuja and by the time they tabled every document that the AMCON discovered that the bank lied and deceived them.

“In fact, we copied the EFCC, since then the bank has not been disturbing the man again. By this February, we are going to sue the bank demanding for consequential damages for rending the man useless”.

“We have handled over 300 cases in the last four years and we have cases their money involved billions of naira. There is no bank in this country that we haven’t had issues with. We have indicted them for stealing from their customers. Infact, if you go to our website, you will be able to assess the cases we have handled. Most of them are listed there. We have recovered over N500million”

The national President of Union of banks and other financial institutions customers of Nigeria said. “we specializes in protecting the rights of bank customers in this country following our discovery of illegal ways the banking institutions defraud their customers because many Nigerians do not know anything about bank rules and regulations and also if Nigerians have issues with their banks, we can tell you what has happened to your bank accounts, we will trace and recover the illegal charges the banks have taken from your account in the past and recover it; that it is what we do”.

According to him, It’s an association of like minds especially victims of these illegal stealing of banks against their customers who come together following the discovery that banks have turned themselves into an organized crime in Nigeria to defraud their customers. “So we come together to see how we can protect ourselves because it has gotten to a point where the people are left at the mercy of rascals who have taken over the esteemed industry”.

The Headquarters of the organization is in Lagos and it has zonal coordinators that take care of each state of the federation.

“When people have complains, what we do is that file the matter to the closet coordinator. People at times will call from port-Harcourt and you don’t expect them to come to Lagos what we will do is to refer them to our coordinator in port-Harcourt and from there to the head office where we will look at the case before taking action”.

Aniede thank God for the media that has been on their side since the struggle and said that if it was not the media, the Group would have find it difficult fighting the anomalies.

“It is a national problem now and that is why we are calling on media houses to let every Nigerian bank customer to know that banks steal from every of their customer without exception. Now, most of the job we do we did it through reference. Like the ones we solved their problems tell others who have similar case after recovering their money and before you know it they come to us”, he explained. “That is how people come. Also, through the media who have realized that what we are doing is very important and from time to time, they report our activities”.

“We have our monthly bulletin that we called bank customers bulletin and we have books we have written: How Banks Defraud Their Customers. We have radio stations that have given us airtime where we share information with Nigerians on air. So we use all these to sensitize Nigerians about bank rules and regulations”, Aniede added. “We are also online. We have our website; we are on Facebook and twitter. We created our website to continually educate Nigerians about how banks defraud them. There, we explain to them about new banking rules because from time to time, new bank rules come up on daily basis”.

According to him, there are changes today; we quickly go to our website to update them with the new ones so that Nigerians can be well informed about the relevant banking rules in the industry. So these are the avenues we have been using to sensitize Nigerians.

The hiring of the services of Union of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Customers of Nigeria is not too cumbersome. What the Group said they need is the membership of the victim. According to the President of the Association, their focus point is for the people to know that there is a way out of the bank fraud problem in Nigeria.

He stated that the essence was to let the victims of bank fraud know that there is a consumer law that protects them in this country.

“When you know consumer law you will be protected. So when the issues concerning banks come up, you see that the people are frustrated and they don’t know who to run to and there is no way out. We are trying to let them know that there is a way out. The major issue is to come together because our strength is in our numerical strength so that with it, we can begin to ask for things to be done right in this country”, Aniede stated.

“We thank God for the extent we have gone because, we have made tremendous achievement. Any bank that we write today knows us that these guys are serious people. We have recovered money for different customers from several banks”. He added

“So when somebody is coming for our service, the first thing, is that the person will first be our member because we have a rule that when one person is injured all of us will rise to defend that person and it doesn’t cost anything to be a member. You become a member by obtaining our membership form. Even if you are not a member, we treat your case but there is preferential treatment for members and there are other benefits you get as a member of the organization”.

The reason for being a member is to be become the mouthpiece of the organization in the person’s locality. “So what we do, is that if you come with an issue, we take out time listen to your complain and certified that you have a genuine case before we go for the execution of the case. No matter your status, where you come from, we must listen to you and make sure that the issue is settled on your behalf”.

The membership of the organization cut across tribes and has risen to over 2000 members in the last four years.

 “As we speak with our recent media campaign, we have had over new 500 people now who are waiting for us to open so that they can come and pick their membership forms. We have six administrative staff at the head office. Our target this year is to have over 50,000 members because it involves every bank”.

Having fought several banks in the past to recover huge amount money stolen from customers, there were indications that the Group may be receiving threats to their life. But the Forensic expert dismisses any form of threat with a wave of his handkerchief.

According to him, what the organization faces was attempt by the banks to bribe them to drop such cases. Hear him.  

“Well, not really but sometimes they will call and make some funny and funny offers. Like how do we settle these issues”?  Speaking on the security of members, Aniede said the last thing that they talk about was their security.  “Security is in the hands of God not in the hands of man. And we are on the part of truth and justice.  So, when you are on the right track of justice and truth, even nature will come to your defence”, he reasoned.

“In fact, we don’t even think towards that line. We do our job; we do what we have given ourselves to do without any favour or fear. Security is in the hands of God”.

Aniede also said the organization is not working alone in Nigeria and that it has international collaborators worldwide.

“Yes, we partner with Consumer International; it is an organization that takes care of consumers globally. We also partner with the international forensic fraud examiners worldwide. Ori Adeyemo has been in the forefront of this struggle. He is a father in this area. He has been raising alarm of what banks have been doing to their customers”. He also said. “Most of the time we work with Complaints Commission. Sometimes Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Complaints Unit but at times the CBN doesn’t help matters. They are colluding with the banks to steal their customers’ money”.

The Group leader accused Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), of always turning their eyes to the other way when such cases are reported to them.

“It’s only when we force the banks to recover the money that the CBN will now act as if they did something but once no case come to them, they watch as the banks steal their customers’ money. They will make law and the banks will be abusing it and CBN will not do anything, so they are aiding and abetting the looting spree going on in the banking sector”, he further quipped.

“I have said it that two worse CBN governors are Sanusi and Soludo. These are the two worse CBN governors of all time. Sanusi is running CBN with his mouth. He talks before he thinks while Soludo was so arrogant that he knows everything and created the kind of mess we are in today”.

According to him, CBN has not been helping matters. “They are anti-people and shielding the banks to the disadvantage of the people and that is why Nigerians should take out time to know about bank rules and regulations”.

“Banks are the people killing the economy instead of making it to grow. We have cases of people who have ran away because of bank debts, some have committed suicide, some bedridden, some dead and some have strokes because of dubious sharp practices of the banks. Some even abandoned their properties for banks and at the end of the day; you discover that it was the bank that owed all these people”.