Stiffer Sanction Awaits Bankers Who Aid Fraud As Reps Set To Enact New Law

Bank employees who aid financial crimes may be in for stiffer penalties as the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed second reading a bill seeking to raise punishment for insider fraud by bank staff to a 20-year jail term,

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had November last year declared that most frauds in the banking sector were perpetrated by insider Information, Communication Technology (ICT) employees.

The commission revealed that most banking sector fraud cases it handled showed that bank employees aided the acts.

ABN TV reports that this development is coming just 24 hours after the Nigerian Senate passed a bill seeking to stop landlords in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from demanding advance payment of one-year rent from their tenants, for second reading.

The legislation is titled, ‘A bill for an Act to Regulate the mode of Payment of Rent on Residential Apartments, Office Spaces, etc, in the FCT and for Other Matters Connected Therewith’ sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (All Progressives Congress, APC/Kogi-West), the bill was aimed at ending the practice whereby landlords demand a yearly advance payment of rents from their tenants.

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Adeyemi said the bill seeks to replace the current annual advance rent payment with monthly payments in arrears. This, according to him, is aimed at making life meaningful for workers who are finding it difficult to pay their house rents.

He further attributed the growing number of unoccupied properties in the FCT to the outrageous annual rents which has left residents with the option of moving to the outskirts in search of accommodation.