Victor EzejaA report by the independent investigator appointed by President Bola to probe activities of the immediate past administration of the Central Bank of Nigeria has alleged that the embattled former CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, operated 593 foreign accounts where billions of naira were illegally deposited.
The Special Investigator on the CBN and Related Entities, Jim Obazee, found that the former CBN governor lodged £543, 482,213 in fixed deposits in UK banks without approval of the CBN’s board of directors and the CBN Investment Committee.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis was contained in the final report tagged, ‘Report of the Special Investigation on CBN and Related Entities (Chargeable offences) submitted by Obazee to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.
“The former governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele invested Nigeria’s money without authorization in 593 foreign bank accounts in United States, China and United Kingdom, while he was in charge.
“All the accounts where the billions were lodged have all been traced by the investigator,” the report partly read.
Recall that President Tinubu had in July appointed Obazee, a former Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), as the CBN special investigator.
The report claimed that billions of naira were stolen by Emefiele and other officials from the CBN’s accounts prior to the 2023 general elections.
According to the report, there was “fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million,” adding that the ex-CBN boss manipulated the Naira exchange rate and committed fraud in the e-Naira project.
Buhari Didn’t approve Naira Redesign
The investigator also claimed that it was found that Buhari didn’t approve the naira redesign project done by Emefiele’s administration last year.
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The report said the currency redesign “was neither recommended by the Board of the CBN nor approved by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, in contravention of the provisions of Section 19 (1) of the CBN Act, 2007.”
“The former President tagged along but did not approve the redesign as required by law. Buhari merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria. The redesign was only mentioned to the board of the CBN on December 15, 2022, after Emefiele had awarded the contract to the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc on October 31, 2022.’’
The report further claimed that the naira redesign policy was a conspiracy targeted at frustrating the political class.
“It was a conspiracy against the Nigerian people and specifically the political class by the then CBN Governor (Mr Godwin Emefiele) and one of the erstwhile CBN Deputy Governor (Mr Folashodun Shonubi). The idea was that of Mr Shonubi (claiming interwoven challenges) and Mr Godwin Emefiele designed and approved the currency on October 19, 2022.
“It was indeed meant to frustrate the political class and make their election agenda very difficult. It turned out to be a huge punishment to Nigerians and the Nigerian economy coincidentally,” Obazee said.
According to the investigator, the printing of the new the currency notes at total cost of N61.5 billion was for out of which N31.79 billion had been paid.
The investigator called for the immediate prosecution of Emefiele and other individuals, including his deputy governors, for alleged serious financial offences.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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