EFCC arraigns top CBN staff, bankers for N8bn scam

For their alleged involvment in a currency scam running into about N8 billion, the EFCC says five top officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and 16 other bankers are to be arraigned in court June 2.

The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement on Sunday, that the suspects were to be arraigned for circulating defaced and mutilated notes at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Uwujaren said the16 other suspects to be arraigned alongside the CBN bigwigs were members of staff of various commercial banks in the country.

He said the suspects would be arraigned on five counts at the high court.

The EFCC spokesperson added that all the suspects now in custody connived to recycle the defaced and mutilated currencies they were asked to destroy by substituting the notes with newspaper cuttings in Naira note sizes.

Uwujaren stated that the operatives of the commission waded into the matter following a petition that the sum of N6.5bn was recycled by a syndicate involving top officials of the CBN in Ibadan, Oyo State.

He explained that the fraud was partly responsible for the failure of the monetary policy of the government as mop up exercises by the CBN failed to address the effect of inflation on the e

“All the suspects, who are currently in the custody of the EFCC, are now ruing the day they literally allowed greed and craze for materialism to becloud their sense of judgment and responsibility, when they elected to help themselves to tonnes of defaced Naira notes.

“The lid on the scam, which is widely suspected to have gone on unchecked for years, was blown on November 3, 2014, via a petition to the EFCC, alleging that over N6, 575, 549, 370.00 was cornered and discreetly recycled by light fingered top executives of the CBN at the Ibadan branch.”

Ripples…without borders, without fear

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now