[b]Switzerland Amends Banking Law To Expose Illicit Accounts


The Switzerland Ambassador to Nigeria, Hans-Rudolf Hodel on Tuesday said his country has amended its bank secrecy laws making it more legally responsible to disclose suspicious funds lodged in the country’s financial institutions.

Mr Hodel, who was speaking at a seminar in Abuja on money laundering and terrorism in West Africa, said with the rise in the financing of global terrorism, individuals and groups can no longer loot money and dump in Swiss accounts without fear of discovery as the authorities are now authorised to raise alerts on suspicious transactions.

“We still have a bank secrecy law but it is very relative because as soon as there are suspicions of illicit fund be it for trafficking, terrorism or whatever criminal act, the bank secrecy is lifted and the accounts are seized,” the Ambassador said.

Mr Hodel said Switzerland is currently engaged in activities that will strengthen regional capacity and cooperation in dealing with the financing of terrorist groups.

Other experts present at the event pointed out that the quickest way to kill terrorism is to cut off its life source which is funding.

Bank secrecy is a legal principle under which banks are not allowed to provide to authorities personal and account information about their customers unless certain conditions apply (for example, a criminal complaint has been filed).

Created by the Swiss Banking Act of 1934, which led to the famous Swiss bank, the principle of bank secrecy is always considered one of the main aspects of private banking. It has also been accused by civil society organisations and governments of being one of the main instruments of underground economy and organized crime.

Former bank employees from banks in Switzerland (UBS, Julius Baer) and Liechtenstein (LGT Group) have testified that their former institutions helped clients evade billions of dollars in taxes by routing money through offshore havens in the Caribbean and Switzerland. One of these, Rudolf Elmer, wrote in the New York Times, “It is a global problem…Offshore tax evasion is the biggest theft among societies and neighbour states in this world.”

The Swiss Parliament ratified on June 17, 2010 an agreement between the Swiss and the United States governments allowing UBS to transmit to the US authorities information concerning 4,450 American clients of UBS suspected of tax evasion.


[/b]

[b]Switzerland Amends Banking Law To Expose Illicit Accounts


The Switzerland Ambassador to Nigeria, Hans-Rudolf Hodel on Tuesday said his country has amended its bank secrecy laws making it more legally responsible to disclose suspicious funds lodged in the country’s financial institutions.

Mr Hodel, who was speaking at a seminar in Abuja on money laundering and terrorism in West Africa, said with the rise in the financing of global terrorism, individuals and groups can no longer loot money and dump in Swiss accounts without fear of discovery as the authorities are now authorised to raise alerts on suspicious transactions.

“We still have a bank secrecy law but it is very relative because as soon as there are suspicions of illicit fund be it for trafficking, terrorism or whatever criminal act, the bank secrecy is lifted and the accounts are seized,” the Ambassador said.

Mr Hodel said Switzerland is currently engaged in activities that will strengthen regional capacity and cooperation in dealing with the financing of terrorist groups.

Other experts present at the event pointed out that the quickest way to kill terrorism is to cut off its life source which is funding.

Bank secrecy is a legal principle under which banks are not allowed to provide to authorities personal and account information about their customers unless certain conditions apply (for example, a criminal complaint has been filed).

Created by the Swiss Banking Act of 1934, which led to the famous Swiss bank, the principle of bank secrecy is always considered one of the main aspects of private banking. It has also been accused by civil society organisations and governments of being one of the main instruments of underground economy and organized crime.

Former bank employees from banks in Switzerland (UBS, Julius Baer) and Liechtenstein (LGT Group) have testified that their former institutions helped clients evade billions of dollars in taxes by routing money through offshore havens in the Caribbean and Switzerland. One of these, Rudolf Elmer, wrote in the New York Times, “It is a global problem…Offshore tax evasion is the biggest theft among societies and neighbour states in this world.”

The Swiss Parliament ratified on June 17, 2010 an agreement between the Swiss and the United States governments allowing UBS to transmit to the US authorities information concerning 4,450 American clients of UBS suspected of tax evasion.


[/b]

May God bless him with good health ,long life and good heart to listen to his parents wise counsel.May you live to rejoice at the sight of him in even years to come,it is well with your home in Jesus name(amen).I hope the dad scored 100% like me?

@ ikengawo,the self-confessed Gov Chime apostle,you've got mail in https://www.nairaland.com/1122926/governor-sullivan-chime-could-dead

you dont know what people like you are doing to this country.Egyptians,just today,marched into their presidential palace to challenge an unpopular decision taken by Morsi.
You are a psycophant,I know how you cheered GEJ on during the period power supply was up even though we regularly reminded you and your fellow pdp goons that it was because the water level is high at that time and nothing significantly had been done in power,right now power supply is down to terrible level,gej has since sold the power plants to mostly questionable characters and just 2 days ago,2 turbines in egbin broke down completely,yet GEJ had spent billions on power.

Ikengawo: Hope this doesn't happen, he's my favorite governor

you just gave yourself away as a person with low standard.in one thread opened by you,you were blaming the media for defaming jonathan and pdp govs yet you do not see anything wrong in the lack of sincerity shown by this Chime guy.He has health challenges like everybody,yet he could not for once admit he was sick,the same thing gej did with his wife,same with late yardua,yet you could still blame the media :oGod will judge you accordingly as it is this your kind of hypocripsy that had kept these dishonest characters in power.

since you dont get it,the wicked,uninspiring failure called Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is the standard bearer of PDP.His failure is the liability of these 'garrison' pdp governors.If only GEJ wasnt a failure,maybe people would always look out for what they are cooking.remember when Atiku said,when the head(GEJ) of the fish is rotten,the whole(Amaechi,Akpabio,Lamido et al who as a matter of fact came from very poor background and suddenly became private Jet-lovers ) fish is bad.No serious newspaper that peddles falsehood and propaganda will survive,especially in the southwest which is the base of nigerian media.the media learnt their lesson during the june 12 struggle.


pls,dont forget the experiment,it will certainly cure you of any doubt.

keep deluding yourself.try experiment with your family,day one,come home on new year day with 1.2 billion naira jet and tell your wife and children to contribute money for fuel in the spirit of sacrifice.next day,use the funds meant for your children's school fees to build a hall for hosting your parties and tell your children that henceforth they will be paying you house rent for staying in their father's house and on the 3rd day,use the whole family savings to feed yourself then ask your wife and children to pray and fast that you will succeed in life .Repeat it for 24 months like jonathan and publish the result in a journal.At the end of your experiment see if you will remain popular in your family. A bad product(jonathan and pdp,no matter the advert,will not sell.

abeg,who is the older between sylvester'DEBE' OJUKWU and this Emeka Ojukwu jnr?

[b]

I don’t need Will to take over my father’s house – Ojukwu Jr


On December 3, 2012 · In News

10:02 pm
..





BY VINCENT UJUMADU

AWKA—AS the controversy over the Will of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu continues, his son, Mr. Emeka Ojukwu Jr., a former commissioner for special duties and transport in Anambra State, has said he did not need any Will to take over his father’s house in Nnewi.

Speaking yesterday, Ojukwu Jr. said he had taken over the house according to Igbo tradition that stipulates that the first son should automatically and traditionally inherit his father’s house and compound in the event of the father’s death.

The Nnewi mansion was given to Emeka Jr in the controversial Will read last week in Enugu, while Ojukwu’s multi–million naira commercial property located at Sokoto road, Onitsha, was given to him to manage, while the Ikemba was still alive and it was not reflected in the Will.


Emeka Ojukwu, jnr,

Emeka, however, said other contents of the Will were subject to challenge at the law court, adding that it was left for his father’s lawyer who prepared the original Will to take action before he (Emeka) contacted his own lawyer for any possible litigation.

Meanwhile, the crisis rocking the family over the Will took a new dimension yesterday with a director in Ojukwu Transport Limited, OTL, one of the companies mentioned in the Will, saying the late Ikemba’s wife, Bianca, had no stake in the company.

A director of the company, Mr. Ifeukwu Ojukwu, who is based in the United States of America, USA, said the company, owned by their late father and grandfather, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu was a different property from the private property of late Ikemba Nnewi, arguing that Bianca could not claim the trustee of the company as conferred on her in the Will.

It would be recalled that the will had given the trustees of the company belonging to the late Ojukwu Bianca which the eldest son to Ojukwu Emeka Jr. described as untrue and improper.

Ifeukwu Ojukwu said: “Bianca was neither a trustee member, nor a director of OTL and it is good to note that OTL is a different property from the things late Ikemba Nnewi left behind because the directorship cannot be transferred through a Will.

“I attended a meeting of OTL directors and Bianca was not there and she is not even a member of the board of directors and she cannot lay claim to that.”

He explained that all the directors of OTL were in full support of Emeka Ojukwu (Jr.) as the head of the Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu’s family, recalling that the late Ikemba told him that Emeka was his first son and head of the family in the event of his death.

He added that members of the family would support him in whatever he decided to do.


[/b]

[b]Constitution review: Physically challenged want 15% of elective and appointive positions


Abimbola Ayobami

Published: December 2,2012





They want it included during the constitution review.

The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, JONAPWD, has urged the National Assembly to consider their memorandum on laws on disability already submitted to the constitution review committee.

In the proposed law, the disability group is demanding that at least 15 per cent of all elective and appointive positions at all levels of government be reserved for qualified and suitable physically challenged persons.

The National Chairman of JONAPWD, Rotimi Olubodede, spoke in Akure, the Ondo State Capital while addressing reporters on the preparation for the association’s 20th Anniversary of International Day for disabled persons.

He noted that such reserved positions would take into account the different type of disabilities.

He said the disability bill, if passed into law, would also guarantee employment opportunities for the physically challenged in both the government and private sectors.

Mr. Olubodede lamented the failure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan, to sign the bill into laws.

“A disability bill has been forwarded to the presidents in two separate times for assent: The first attempt was to Chief Obasanjo. And the second time was to President Jonathan. None of them signed the bill into law.

“The bill is currently at the National Assembly for the third time. I use this opportunity to urge the President to sign the bill when it returns to his table,” he said.

The Chairman stressed that the association aimed to promote an understanding of people with disability and encourage support for their dignity.

Each year, the United Nations announce a theme for International Day of People with disabilities. This year’s theme is “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all”.

“Barriers can take a variety of forms, including those relating to the physical environment or to Information and Communications Technology, or those resulting from legislation or policy, or from societal attitude or discrimination.

“In order to remove the barriers in our society, I, therefore appeal to the constitutional review committee and the National Assembly to consider the memorandum to remove barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for persons with disabilities in Nigeria,” Mr. Olubodede said.
[/b]

@ leonpatra,pls can you furnish us with pix and tell us what you know that the reporter didnt reveal,at least your annonymity is guaranteed,we know the guy(chinedu offor,the media adviser to okorocha) is lying.abeg,this power arrogance must be put in check by delibrately exposing those who take others for a ride.abeg,yarn us.remember,the victim may not have fully recovered,he pay have suffered complications that may be permanent and potentially life-threatening but may not have manifested or discovered

manny4life: Hmm, talk about being unprofessional, the dude should be detained. Then again, how do you beat someone into "COMA" and they got out hospital the next day?

As for the policeman who was beaten, he should sue the Owerri Govt because the ADC works for his excellency.

try experiment with yourself, one day,ask a power-drunk policeman to beat you( I mean maximum shishi )to coma,ask him to take you to the hospital then the following week,repeat same and ask him to lock you up in police cell.Try it more than five times to get a reliable result and publish the result in a scientific journal.

okay,since you asked.It was this same 'Gebu' ADC Okorocha used to fight for chair said to be reserved for Obi of Anambra at a function last month.methinks,if Rochas had called him to order,he is less likely to act like agbero to impress his principal.in civil service,perception of your principal dictates how you impress him/her i.e your kind of eye-service.It seems,okorocha made himself to be percieved as someone that can be impressed by that kind of attitude.Would any security detail of a Yardua or Fashola do that?

Gov Okorocha’s ADC beats policeman to coma


The Aide-de-Camp to the Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, Mr. Omo Gabriel, and two other police officers on Saturday, allegedly beat up a policeman attached the state government house for delaying in opening the gate for the governor’s convoy.

The incident, which occurred around 12:30am, when the governor returned from his wife’s birthday party, left the victim unconscious.

The mobile policeman, Corporal Itere Ewedor, was said to have been on duty at the security post when the governor’s convoy drove in.

Efforts to speak to Ewedor on Saturday were not successful as he was said to be resting but his friend, Mr. David Edhie, confirmed the incident.

He told SUNDAY PUNCH that after hearing the hooting of the horn from the governor’s convoy, the policeman opened the gate only for the ADC, a superintendent of police, and two other senior police officers to descend on him.

He said, “When the governor’s convoy got to the gate, the men of the civil defence corps and members of the Imo orientation corps, who were supposed to open the gate, were not around. So, there was a delay. Then my friend went to open the gate.

“When the convoy drove in, the ADC and some other police officers came down and asked him why he delayed. They wanted to collect his gun, but he refused. So, they started beating him. They beat him until he became unconscious, with bruises all over his face and parts of his body.”

Edhie added that the ADC took Ewedor, in his unconscious state, to Shell Camp Police Station and requested that he be detained.

He said, “The police officers at the station refused. They said they could not detain someone that was dying. Then Gabriel made arrangements for Ewedor to be taken to the Federal Medical Centre Owerri, where he was admitted. After sometime, he regained consciousness.”

SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that Ewedor, was discharged from the hospital around 5pm on Saturday.

Edhie said the ADC had made frantic efforts to get Ewedor discharged from the hospital, because sympathisers, including journalists, were visiting the the place.

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information and Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Chinedu Offor, refuted the report.

He said, “The ADC to Governor Okorocha is a true professional, there is no way he could have descended so low to physically assault somebody. In order not to scare people away, we use men of the civil defence corps at the gate. We don’t use policemen at the gates of the government house. So, if anybody says a policeman was beaten up for refusing to open the gate, it is false. I was at the government house around 12:30am. Such a thing never happened.”


http://www.punchng.com/news/gov-okorochas-adc-beats-policeman-to-coma/

[b]
‘ Cases of rape rise to 84% in Nigeria’



| Print | E-mail

Friday, 30 November 2012

CASES of rape have gone up from 12.5 per cent to 84 per cent in Nigeria.


Revealing this on Thursday, in Ibadan, Dr (Mrs) Omolara Smith, President, Zonta Club II, Ibadan, said violence against women had become more rampant and called on the government to enact appropriate laws to serve as deterrence to culprits.


Smith, who was addressing journalists on activities organised by Zonta Club to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence, said, “violence against women and children in Nigeria has challenged us to act in solidarity to promote and end violence against women and girls. Over the years, cases of rape and other violence against women have been on the increase. It is our view that this can only be reduced or eradicated with proper legislation and stiff penalty.”


Smith, who disclosed that the global theme of the international day was “From peace in the home to peace in the world,” added that violence against women was something that should be abhorred by everyone in the society.


According to the Zonta boss, “Violence can lead to extreme physical, mental and psychological condition or even death, it can take place domestically, in the public or as part of community conflicts.”


While advising women and girls to be wary of the company they kept, Dr Smith said, “Women are more likely to be victimised by someone they are intimate with.”


The Zonta president revealed that the activities earmarked by the organisation to sensitise members of the public against victimising women and girls would span 16 days.

[/b]

pls,can someone avail us of the 5 healthy banks? although tentatively,i think firstbank and gtbank will make the list.will fcmb be part of the 5?

[b]Only 5 banks are healthy – NDIC
From ISAAC ANUMIHE, Abuja

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) yesterday revealed that there are only five sound banks in the country, even as it stated there are no unsound banks. Whereas 13 of the banks are satisfactory, two of them are just marginal, says the deposit insurer. In its 2011 Annual Report and Statements of Accounts, NDIC said the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) were categorised under A to E, which means, A–Very Sound, B–Sound, C–Satisfactory, D–Marginal and E–Unsound, adding that there are no banks in the country that satisfied the condition to be in the category of Very Sound Bank and that there are no unsound banks at the end of 2011 fiscal year.

However, the report added that two banks are in the marginal category and that the combined total assets of the two marginal banks stood at N560.02 billion or 3.07 per cent of the industry’s total assets. Also, in the 2010 fiscal year, the NDIC said that in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), it carried out a joint target examination of the insured DMBs, where the findings at the end showed extreme weakness in corporate governance, weak credit examination, improvement in industry assets quality, arising largely from the sale of non-performing loans to Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), insider credit in excess of 10 per cent paid-up capital, concentration of credits and inadequate capital in some banks and credit in excess of single obligor limit.

The report also noted that in the Risk Based Supervision audit carried out by the two regulators in the banking sector, the examination revealed poor corporate governance practices, poor risk management arising from inadequate manpower and training of risk management personnel and absence of defined overall risk appetite by the banks. However, the report further noted that notwithstanding the level of soundness of the banks, the report showed that all the banks but nine of them recorded significant improvement in the financial condition and performance in their 2011 report.

It said that the banking industry capital position was strong during the year under review, while the equity capital decreased by about 11.81 per cent from N249.71 billion in December 2010 to N220.21 billion in 2011 the reserved increased substantially to N2,266 billion in 2011 from N179.89 billion in 2010. Also, the adjusted shareholders’ funds increased to N1.93 trillion in 2011 from N312.36 billion in 2010 resulting in the improvement of capital adequacy ratio of the DMBs from 4.06 per cent in December 2010 to 17.71 per cent in December 2011.

Also, the asset quality of banks improved during the period under review as the banking industry loans in totality stood at N7.31trillion, an increase of N2.04 per cent over the N7.16 trillion reported in 2010. The industry volume of non-performing loans also reduced significantly by N651.70 billion or 60.47 per cent from N1.08 trillion in December 2010 to N425.96 billion in the period under review. Regarding earnings and profitability, report noted that the total operating income of the industry stood at N2.33 trillion in December 2011, representing an increase of 7.90 per cent over the N2.16 trillion reported in 2010.

Similarly, the total operating expenses increased from N932,53 billion in December 2010 to N1.79 trillion in December 2011. To this effect, the industry recorded a loss of N6.17 billion in December 2011 as against a profit of N607.34 billion recorded in December 2010. Nine banks, according to the report, reported losses at the end of 2011 which resulted in the negative Return on Assets and Return on Equity and adversely affected the industry performance during the period under review.

However, the yield on earning assets also dropped to 10.05 per cent as at December 2011 from 11.24 per cent in December 2010. As for liquidity and fund management, the report indicated a strong liquidity position for the industry in the period under review saying that the average liquidity ratio rose from 51.77 per cent in December 2010 to 65.69 per cent in December 2011. The report also listed the banks examined which include, Access Bank Plc, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Diamond Bank Plc, Enterprise Bank, Ecobank Plc, Fidelity Bank, First Bank Plc,

First City Monument Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank and Keystone Bank. Also, examined include, Mainstreet Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, Skye Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Union Bank Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

[/b]

Osun denies planning to castrate rapists.


Two principal officers of Osun State House of Assembly, Messrs Ipoola Binuyo, and Akin Taiwo, have said there is no bill before the legislature recommending castration for rapists.

Mr. Goke Butikakuro, the Press Secretary to the Speaker, Mr. Najeem Salaam, said in a telephone on Sunday, “I have spoken with Mr. Ipoola Binuyo, who is the Chief Whip of the House; and the Assistant Chief Whip, Mr. Akin Taiwo. They said there’s no such bill on rape before the House or the recommendation of castration as penalty for rape.”

While Ipoola represents Ife-North Constituency, Taiwo represents Ayedaade Constituency.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Adetoun Adegboyega, has denied advocating castration for rapists.

Speaking with our correspondent in a telephone interview on Sunday evening, Adegboyega said she “only jokingly” said do men want to be castrated before they would stop raping children and women?’

She said, “It was all a joke which some people have decided to sensationalise. I was just answering a question on rape at the ministerial news conference held at Government Secretariat, Abere, on Friday, when I jokingly asked if rapists want their ‘third leg’ to be caught off before they stop their inhuman act?”

Adegboyega said the bill on rape before the Osun House of Assembly had reached the second reading, adding that the state government would use all legal means to protect children, women and the vulnerable from being sexually abused.

Right activists, Amitolu Shittu, Wahid Lawal, Abiodun Agboola, Rufus Oyatoro, in separate telephone interviews with our correspondent on Sunday spoke against rape.

But they also said Osun could not afford to castrate rapists without adequate legislative backing.

Lawal said, “Osun is too sophisticated to engage in extra judicial actions against even the offenders. I want to believe that there is a misconception on the rape issue.”

Agboola said, “No, that cannot happen in Osun. The government and people of Osun are too enlightened to allow that to happen. We cannot go back to the dark ages.”


http://www.osundefender.org/?p=72450

pls,I want to know if it is possible in the nigerian jurisprudence as a matter of public concern

[b]The write up of ms Abimbola Adelakun of Punch newspaper "jail is too good for Nigerian pastors" reminded me of an experience we brethrens of Church of Christ had on our open-air evangelism in Okota-Lagos.My preacher publicly evangelised on the ignorance of tithing by denominations who professed to be christians warning them on the sin in ignoring the christian facts that was givienin the new testament written for christian doctrines forbids tithing,as a matter of fact 1cor 16 and 2 cor 9 confirmed that "giving is no longer out of necessity or compulsion(as against tithing which mandates 10%),it is as you purposeth in your mind",no sooner did he end the preaching that some wives of these fAKE CORRUPT pastors verbally assaulted him for 'preaching heresy'.it was that day that I knew that these pastors are using these churches to criminally enrich themselves and their families.Due to the preponderence of these fake pastors and their gullible followers,I completely took it for granted that in my church,there is no general overseer,no headquaters or central administration of command,no tithing or christmas celebrations because christ expressly stated in Luke 22 how he should be remembered only by the breaking of bread and no craze for political patronage!!!

I wondered if these church business will be as lucrative as it is if we follow the new testament instruction on giving to the letter
Can I sue these fake pastors on the account of the scriptural contradiction in tithing when christians have been warned against it in the new testament and established facts that tithing is meant for the Jew Levite family who were not giving a land when it was shared among the 12 tribes of Isreal? [/b]