By MICHAEL EBOH
United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA, yesterday, denied any culpability in the alleged fraudulent transactions in the Police Pension Fund, saying it acted in a professional manner in its dealings with officials of the Fund.
The Senate Committee on Establishment, States and Local Government, had on Tuesday said it had uncovered an illegal account with UBA, holding N3 billion belonging to the Police Pension Office.
The bank in a statement by Mr. Charles Aigbe, Divisional Head, Marketing and Corporate Relations, said it was one of the banks where the Police Pension Fund account was maintained, adding that the Police Pension Office account was opened with an approval from the Accountant General of the Federation, with no record of the account in the name(s) of individuals.
Aigbe said: "The account which was opened for the purpose of paying the pension benefits of retired Police Officers had the authorization of the Office of the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation.
"The account was opened on June 29, 2011; an inflow of N3bn from the Police Pension Fund was credited into the account on July 22, 2011.
"Till date, there has been no transaction conducted on this account. On September 15, 2011, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance wrote a letter to UBA endorsing the signatories, freezing the account and mandating that no transactions be conducted on the account except through her direct supervision. This mandate has since been upheld.
"From the foregoing, it is clear that UBA has acted in a very professional manner and we never hesitated to honour the invitation of the National Assembly.
"We have been constrained to issue this statement to put the record straight and clear the misrepresentation that the reports had created."
Vanguard Nigeria