The
Federal Government and its agencies have continued to defy the ruling of the
Court of Appeal that the deduction of stamp duty on bank deposits is illegal.
Investigation
showed that the Technical Committee on Stamp Duty had advised the Central Bank
of Nigeria to issue a circular to the banks to stop collecting stamp duty of
N50 on deposits into current accounts with value of N1,000 and above.
Although
the court ruling was given on April 21, investigation showed that the apex bank
had yet to issue the circular. The duty is projected to yield N2.5tn to the
Federal Government per annum.
Some
bankers, who spoke to our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said
they had yet to get any circular from the CBN to stop the collection.
The
spokesperson for the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, told our correspondent on the
telephone on Thursday that the apex bank had nothing to do with the stamp duty.
He
asked our correspondent to refer every question on the subject to the Nigerian
Postal Service.
The
spokesperson for NIPOST, Hajiya Simbiat Lawal, was indisposed when during a call
to her on Thursday, but she had earlier said if there was a court ruling, the
organisation, as a law abiding entity, would abide by the decision of the
court.
The
CBN had in a January circular issued to the Deposit Money Banks in the country
directed them to deduct N50 for stamp duty on every deposit in a current
account amounting to N1,000 and above beginning from January 1, 2016.
The
circular, which has since been implemented by the banks, was in spite of the
fact that there was a subsisting issue in court on the subject.
Ruling
on an appeal filed by Standard Chartered Bank against Kasmal International
Services Limited and 22 others, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa and four others
justices of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Judicial Division, held that the Stamp
Duty Act, 2004 did not impose a duty on the banks to deduct N50 on deposits.
Kasmal
International Services Limited, which belongs to Senator Buruji Kashamu, had on
February 17, 2014 obtained the judgement of a Lagos High Court against the
banks to the effect that that they should remit more than N6bn they were
supposed to have collected on deposits since the Stamp Duty became an Act of
Parliament in 2004 through it to NIPOST.
According
to Kasmal, NIPOST had appointed it as an agent to collect the stamp duty on its
behalf from banks and, therefore, the banks should remit the money accruing as
stamp duty through it to the postal organisation.
However,
in a lead judgment, Justice Saulawa held that the Stamp Duty Act imposed no
such duty on the banks. In concurring rulings delivered by a panel of the
Appeal Court, Justices Ejembi Eko, Adamu Jauro, Moore Adumein and Nonyerem
Okoronkwo agreed in totality with the ruling delivered by Saulawa.
The
appeal court set aside the ruling of the lower court delivered by justice C. J.
Aneke on five grounds.
Source:Punch
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Business