Expert Decries on Bank Charges  

In Nigeria, banks whimsically charge both the drawer and drawee for a returned cheques thereby amounting to double jeopardy especially for the drawee.

Ori Adeyemo, a forensic accountant and crusader for streamlined bank charges, has decried bank charges on returned cheques and described the fee deducted from accounts in consequence of returned cheques as illegal.

“ It is trite that by virtue of Section 10, subsection of the defunct Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Bankers Tariff, a bank is allowed to charge N1, 000 for a returned corporate cheques, whilst debiting N300 for a returned individual cheques, to be borne by the drawer. It is also true that by the provision of Section 11, subsection 6 of the subsisting CBN Guide To Bank Charges effective January 01, 2004, a returned cheque attracts 0.5 per cent of amount, maximum N5, 000, to be borne by the drawer, he said.

In both cases, Adeyemo said that the CBN guidelines stipulate that only the drawer of a cheque should be penalized for a returned cheque and not the supposed beneficiary, who never took value for consideration anyway.

Affirming the contradiction in the statutes relating to fees sanctions as a result of returned chques, Adeyemo said, “I must emphasize that the CBN is wrong to have inserted returned cheque fee into the defunct Bankers Tariff as well as the subsisting CBN Guide To Bank Charges being in crass breach of the dishonored Cheque, Offences, Act of May 20, 1977, which makes it a nullity for the following reasons:

A returned cheque is a criminal offence and not a civil offence, only the injured party, that is, the supposed beneficiary, has a right to complain about a returned cheque to the Nigeria Police or better still, the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and definitely not a bank, returned Cheque Fee is a penalty which only a court of competent jurisdiction can impose on a citizen of the country, no party to a contract can impose any form of penalty fine on other parties to a contract as doing so is repugnant to natural justice, a bank has no special or pecuniary interest in a returned cheque being just a clearing vehicle for a deposited cheques. Section 9 of the subsisting CBN Guide to Bank Charges, clearing of cheque or draft in Nigeria is free.  Moreover, no bank can charge any fee for collecting any deposit in Nigeria.

According to the Dishonored Cheque Offences, Act of May 20, 1977, upon conviction, an individual is liable to two-year jail term without an option of fine while for a body corporate a penalty fine of not less than N5, 000, Only the Attorney-General of a state, without excluding the Attorney-General of the Federation, has a right of criminal prosecution of a defaulter and definitely not a bank, Section 25 of the Interpretation Act, which provides that a person shall not be punished twice when guilty of an offence under more than one enactment, shall apply in respect of offences under this act, Section 11.6 of the subsisting CBN Guide to Bank Charges as it relates to a bank charging its customer Returned Cheque Fee is in breach of the Dishonored Cheques, Offences, Act being a legislation of the National Assembly, the Dishonored Cheques, Offences, Act will prevail.

Therefore, the present CBN Guide to Bank Charges, is fraught with illegalities to the crass detriment of bank customers thereby allowing banks to smile away at all times, leaving the customers short-changed. 

Adeyemo argued that on account of the subsisting convention of fee sanctioning for returned cheques, he had been demanding a review of the CBN Guide to Bank Charges, “I cannot but request for a thorough review of the CBN Guide to Bank Charges wherein the opinion of every stakeholder in the industry will be accommodated as against the present one which was drafted by Jim Ovia, Managing Director, Zenith Bank Plc, and so wholesomely adopted by the CBN without any input from the bank customers, thereby skewing the graph in favor of the banking industry.

In simple words, I submit that it is totally illegal for any Nigerian bank to penalize a customer for a returned cheque, as doing so will translate to the fact that the banks have become laws unto themselves, having illegitimately taken over the job of the judiciary,” he said. 

By Portia