By Tony Amokeodo

Monday, 29 Nov 2010

A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has urged the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, to sanction some indicted banks in the United Kingdom for facilitating money laundering and large scale official corruption in Nigeria.

In a letter addressed to Cameron through the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Robert Dewar, Falana urged the prime minister to take appropriate action on the issue and bring the operations of the banks in line with the UK’s obligations under the UN Convention against corruption.

A copy of the letter dated November 27 was made available to our correspondent in Lagos on Sunday.

A report published in October by respectable Global Witness had accused the British banks of continuing to accept millions of pounds from corrupt Nigerian politicians.

The Global Witness added that British banks were much less concerned about large amounts of corrupt money passing through their accounts, claiming that the banks rarely undertook a due diligence, an important requirement under UK regulations and international standards.

The banks indicted in the Global Witness report include Barclays, HSBC, RBS, NatWest and UBS.

But Falana had urged Cameron to establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the activities of the concerned banks.

He added that the development would enable the prime minister to establish whether their operations in the cases reported by the Global Witness breached national regulations and international anti-corruption standards, under the UN Convention against Corruption to which the UK is a state party.

Falana is also asking the British prime minister to name and shame any banks found to be involved in fuelling or facilitating corruption in Nigeria through acceptance of corrupt funds, and sanction the banks for their complicity.

The human rights activist also urged Cameron to refer the serious allegations contained in the aforementioned memorandum to the appropriate UK criminal investigation agency

Falana further reminded the British prime minister that, “The UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority, has not improved or tightened up procedures several years after Barclays, NatWest, UBS, and HSBC reportedly took money from the former Nigerian dictator, the late Gen. Sani Abacha.

“These banks and many other UK banks have reportedly continued to receive looted funds from Nigeria and other developing countries with almost absolute impunity.

To date, no British bank has been fined, or even named and shamed or sanctioned in any way by the regulator for taking corrupt funds from Nigeria, whether willingly or through negligence.

Source: Punch