UK BANKS AID CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA …… Report

             

   A report by Global Witness yesterday said British banks, aided by lax regulation by the authorities are exacerbating corruption in Nigeria.

            According to Reuters News, the graft watchdog said Britain needs to enforce strict money laundering regulations after some of its leading high street banks accepted millions of pounds in deposit from corrupt Nigerian politicians.

            Global witness said in a 40 page report that five banks had taken millions of pounds from two former Nigerian governors accused of corruption but had failed sufficiently to investigate the customers or the source of their funds.

            It said Britain’s Barclays, Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Switzerland’s UBS might not have broken the law but had helped to fuel corruption in Nigeria.

HSBC said the allegations were “misguided”. The four other banks and Britain’s regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA), declined to comment. Royal Bank of Scotland took over Natwest in 2000.

            Global Witness acknowledged that British regulation might have moved on since 2005, but said there were still gaps in the system particularly regarding funds from “politically exposed persons”(PEPs) deemed to pose a higher money laundering risk.