NIPOST To Appoint Forensic Auditors Over Suspicion of Stamp Duty Fraud by Banks

The Postmaster General of the Federation, Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi is reported to have sent a letter to the Central Bank of Nigeria, informing it of the decision of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to begin forensic audit of the stamp duties collected by commercial banks since January 2016.

Adegbuyi in the letter, informed the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, of the decision to carry out the forensic audit to compare the amounts charged by the banks for the period and the amount remitted to the Stamp Duty Account with the CBN.

About 22 banks have been deducting N50 for every deposit of N1000 and above since January 2016 when the law was put to effect. However, at a recent meeting with officials from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, CBN, NIPOST and the Revenue, Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the officials were unanimous in their displeasure over the amount being remitted into the stamp duty account as they claimed that ‘it was far from what an educated guess would suggest’ should come in.

Based on this, the meeting resolved that NIPOST should appoint forensic auditors to cross check the amount that is actually accruable to the government from the deductions made by the bank. Having already advertised for forensic auditors to carry out the probe, NIPOST informed the CBN officially of the actions about to be taken in the banks under their control.