ANCIENT CROOKS: HOW EMEKA EMUWA LED UNION BANK SWINDLED N190 MILLION TAX OF NASARAWA STATE GOVERNMENT FOR YEARS

Secret Reporters

Emeka Emuwa as Managing Director of Union Bank rakes in millions yearly but like the biblical rich man who still chose to take over Naboath’s vineyard, he has chosen alongside his bank to take the little that Nasarawa State needs to develop their lands and improve the lives of residents. Sad!

Rated the 14th largest bank in Africa in 2009 with a declared asset base estimated at (US$4.1billion) N1, 381 billion (One Trillion Three Hundred and Eighty One Billion Naira) as at March 31st, 2018, citizens of Nasarawa State may be perplexed to find that Union Bank Nigeria may have used the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to ensure the continued existence of the bank.

Information available to SecretReporters showed that in a comprehensive audit carried out by a Lagos State based Forensic Accounting Consultancy Firm which was engaged by the Nasarawa State Board of Internal Revenue to assist in the improvement of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the State. It was gathered that the Emeka Emuwa led Union Bank defrauded the government of Nasarawa State of a total final and conclusive liability of N184,152,665.39 (One Hundred and Eighty-Four Million One Hundred and Fifty-Two Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Five Naira) in unremitted 10% Withholding Tax on Credit Interest monies.

The forensic audit was carried out to ascertain the IGR base of excess bank charges, PAYE back-duty recoveries, high network individuals, withholding tax on dividends, interest, and deposits against banks operating in the State from 29th May 1999 to 2017 showed that Union Bank Nig. Plc Karu branch defrauded the government of a jaw-dropping N122,895,311 (One Hundred and Twenty-Two Million Eight hundred and Ninety-Five Thousand Three Hundred and Thirty-Three Naira).

Perhaps seeing that defrauding the Nasarawa State government was a walk in the park as no effective check and balance mechanism was in place since its period of operation, we gathered that another of its branch located in the state capital Lafia also defrauded the government of the Home of Solid Minerals of another whopping N61,257,353 (Sixty One Million Two Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand Three Hundred and Fifty-Three Naira) without mercy.

The white Stallion bank which has made bogus claims of ‘delivering the simplest, smartest solutions and guaranteeing the best’ may have just shown that they are only interested in grinding the Nasarawa State’s Economy to a halt using same smart mechanisms as their actions overtime may have only guaranteed the worse for the state.