Nigeria’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has uncovered N70 billion fraudulently realised by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele in connivance with others, SaharaReporters has learnt.
The money was raised by the suspended governor of the apex bank and the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos, Alhaji Aminu Yaro and his wife through a forex differential fraud facilitated by Emefiele.
President Bola Tinubu recently suspended Emefiele from office and he was soon arrested and flown from Lagos to Abuja to face interrogations centred around corruption and abuse of office.
Emefiele’s suspension was confirmed by Willie Bassey, the Director, Information, for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect.
This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
“Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of investigation and the reforms.”
However, on Friday, sources told SaharaReporters Emefiele grossly abused the privileges of the office by making quick cash from forex differential fraud with the help of the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos, Yaro and his wife, who is said to be an employee of the apex bank.
“This is a case of forex differential fraud involving the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele.
“The governor sells forex to various individuals at the official rate on paper. He has an understanding with the individuals that they will sell at the black market rate when the CBN credits the banks of the individuals that buy the forex.
“When they sell, the difference will be paid into the account of Aminu Yaro on behalf of Emefiele,” one of the sources said.
“So far, about N70 billion has been traced to the account in the course of the investigation.
“The wife of Aminu Yaro is an employee of CBN and a signatory to the company account where the money is paid into. She has also been invited by the EFCC for questioning.
“The case was compromised by the suspended Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa because some people close to the seat of power are involved.
“They charge the wife for SCUML (Special Control Unit Against Money Laundry) offences but the main case was left out while the differentials in forex exchange malpractice raised benefits of about N70 billion,” another source said.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has directed the unification of foreign exchange rates against the multiple foreign exchange regimes of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Bawa and Emefiele are being detained by the country’s secret police, the Department of State Services.
Bawa’s invitation and grilling by the DSS came days after Emefiele was arrested and flown from Lagos to Abuja to also face interrogations over alleged corruption and abuse of office.
SaharaReporters learnt that Emefiele and Bawa – both undergoing interrogation – were being quizzed on sundry issues including the Naira redesign scam.
On November 23, 2022, then-President Muhammadu Buhari alongside Emefiele unveiled new naira notes in denominations of N200, N500 and N1,000. Emefiele insisted that the old notes would cease to be legal tender from January 31, 2023.
Addressing journalists after the event, Emefiele insisted that the move was not targeted at anyone as there were speculations that the move was pushed by the cabal in the Presidency and targeted at preventing Bola Tinubu, then-presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress from winning the February 25, 2023 election.
The policy caused Nigerians untold hardship due to the scarcity of naira notes with the CBN unable to meet the demand for new notes. The policy led to a cash crisis and long queues at banks and ATMs.
In February and March, Nigerians were subjected to extreme difficulty with the Naira redesign and cashless policy due to the scarcity of the new Naira notes.
To make matters worse, Emefiele had earlier refused to heed a Supreme Court ruling which made the old notes legal tender till December 31, before former President Buhari distanced himself from the disobedience to the court order.
“Bawa confronted him that he (Emefiele) and the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Malami were the ones that came to him to raise the memo because they suspected Tinubu had warehouses stuffed with naira notes,” the source added.
Culled from sahara reporters