TSA fund: FG serves forfeiture order on banks

The Federal Government has served seven banks with the order of the Federal High Court in Lagos directing a temporary forfeiture of $793.2m allegedly hidden with the banks in contravention of its Treasury Single Account policy. The Federal Government’s lawyer, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), who obtained the ex parte order on July 20, confirmed this in a telephone interview on Monday. He said although the banks was on Saturday served through substituted means by advertising the court orders in newspapers, for the order to be fully enforceable, it required physical service on the relevant personnel of the lenders. Akinseye-George stated, “We could not serve the banks on Friday because as of the time the certified true copy of the enrolled order was processed and released by the court, the banks had closed for work.” Therefore, we commenced service on the banks today (Monday) at their headquarters in Lagos. By 4pm, before the close of work, we had served all the banks.” The concerned banks are United Bank for Africa Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, First Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Limited and Sterling Bank Plc.